Oh the Places we'll Go
by FirstFandomFangirl
Summary: Sequel to Oh the Things we can Do. Everyone's favorite plot-ruiner (Lydia) gets mysteriously stuck in... movie Ninjago. With no idea how to navigate the world, and much less high school, she ends up unintentionally disrupting the plot with no idea how to fix it. Much more crack-y and probably a lot shorter than the first book. Rated K plus just in case.
1. hey mega what the heck

**hey this is gonna exist for a while**

* * *

Lydia woke up to an annoyingly familiar city that she was _not_ supposed to be in.

"Wow, my bed's a lot brighter than normal." She grumbled aloud, sitting up. "And harder. What is this?" She glanced around. Park bench. Ninjago city. "If this is Morro's idea of a joke, I'm going to kick him." As her eyes adjusted to the light, however, it became increasingly clear that something was off. New Ninjago City didn't look the same. It looked… more traditional?

A glance to the right revealed fishing boats out on the water. Glance to the left revealed a huge TV mounted on a building, showing today's Garmadon attack forecast.

Oh.

 _Oh._

"Aw, _heck it_ , Mega." Lydia yelled into the sky, throwing her hands up in the air. " _Movie_ Ninjago? _This_ is real too?!" Unless, unlikely, this was a dream, but since her life had a history of not-being-a-dream, she was going to assume it was real for now. "What am I supposed to do now?" She grumbled. "The movie turns out fine. There's really nothing to change. And I shouldn't! I could mess something up and I don't have the world knowledge to fix it!" She paused.

"Heck. What day is it? Pre or post movie?" She stood up. "I should walk. I'm hungry." She started to walk, down a path and out of the park. "I got no money, no decent world knowledge, no place to stay, I can assume Morro and Karen aren't here." She mused. "And that Mega is to blame." Cause who else? "I'll be dead in a week if I don't find food and shelter." She sat down on a bench that was on the side of the road, dully noting the people walking all around. Lots of people in Ninjago City. Were there other cities? How big was Ninjago? What she wouldn't give for a map- "Okay sunshine, survive the week first and then you can study." She scolded herself out loud.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something yellow, and she looked up to see a school bus lumbering down the street in her direction. One side appeared to be lower than the other. Lloyd's bus. Isn't that a coincidence, _Mega_.

Maybe she should follow it. A high school was a good place to try and blend in, and maybe get some food. Before she could pursue this plan further, however, the bus slowed, then stopped, right in front of her. The doors opened, and Lydia glanced back and forth. No one else. Had it stopped for _her?_ After a moment, she stood, resigned to her fate, and entered the bus.

About thirty pairs of eyes focused on her the moments she stepped into the bus.

Sure enough, every student but one was packed onto the right side of the bus, some rows packed with three or four teens when they were meant for two. The sole occupant of the left side was a cute teenage boy with platinum-blond hair, who gave her a friendly smile none of the other students had offered. Lloyd

Her first instinct was to get to the back of the bus as fast as she could and sit in the unoccupied seat in the very back, avoiding eye contact with everyone the entire drive. Probably the smart thing to do, to avoid changing things.

But these nasty teens were practically asking for this. Lydia walked over and slid into the seat next to Lloyd.

"Hi." She greeted him, fully aware of thirty teenagers staring at her from behind. Heck.

"Hi." His friendly smile widened into a grin. He resembled the Lloyd she knew a fair amount, his face was very similar, but the coloring of his skin, hair, and eyes were a bit different. "I don't think I've seen you around here before. I'm Lloyd." He offered her a hand, and she shook it a bit awkwardly. She was never good at shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Lydia." The bus started moving, and she glanced out the window to see a bus stop. Right where she had been sitting. In the bus stop. Oh.

"Nice to meet you too. Did you just move into the area?" He asked, no trace of nervousness or awkwardness on his face. How was he so calm? Didn't everyone hate him enough that he rarely, if ever, had conversations with strangers? Maybe he was a really good actor.

"Um, I'm an exchange student." Lydia you _moron_. He provided you with an excuse and you _blew it_ in favor of _exchange student_. You barely know what that _is_.

"Oh, really? Where are you from?" Lloyd interrupted her mental self-bashing, and she racked her brains for an answer.

"Um… Ohio." She thumbed over her shoulder. "Way across the ocean."

"Oh, really?" Lloyd's eyes lit up with interest. "What's it like that far away?"

"Oh, you know, pretty quiet." She was _still_ being stared at. It was all she could do to not swivel around and give them all the middle finger.

"Ah." His smile wavered. "How are you liking Ninjago City?"

"It's so much bigger than my home town." True. "I'm kinda overwhelmed."

"That's understandable. But you'll get used to it." The bus lurched to a stop, and Lloyd looked up. "Ah, we're here." As the bus doors opened, the rest of the teens flooded out, pushing and shoving as if racing to be away from Lloyd first.

She wanted to trip them.

Once the path down the center of the bus was clear, she slid out of her seat and followed Lloyd out of the bus. The walkway up to the school fell quiet as the blond emerged, and Lydia began mentally calculating how many teens she could take on at once. Plastering a cheerful look on his face, Lloyd started walking, and Lydia moved to follow, but a hand grabbed her arm. Immediately prepping for a fight, she spun around to see a freckle-faced teenage girl standing behind her.

"You're new around here, aren't you?" She asked, then went on before Lydia could answer. "You don't wanna be friends with Lloyd. He's bad news." Lydia stared at her for a few moments, trying to think of an appropriate retort, then finally figured the girl was sweet enough to try and warn her and probably didn't deserve her wrath.

"I'm going to put this as delicately as possible. No. Go away." She kept walking. The girl stood there, stunned, for a few moments, before yelling something incoherent after her and stomping off. So much for sweet. She caught up to Lloyd, who hadn't appeared to notice the interaction.

This was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **For those of you who don't follow my tumblr or read Candaru's fics, here's a little bit of context for who the heck Mega is:** **.xcxoxmx/xpxoxsxtx/x1x7x7x7x0x3x3x7x0x7x6x3x/xixmx-xjxuxsxtx-xgxoxnxnxax-xpxoxsxtx-xtxhxixsx-xtxhxixsx-xixsx-xtxhxex-xsxoxrxtx-xoxfx-xtxhxixnxgx OR if you don't feel like removing about 200 xs you can just search "art of fff tumblr" and look at the topmost post (at least until I post something else)**

 **~FFF**


	2. 17 years of hatred against bullies

**:)**

 **Review replies:**

 **Zena: Great**

 **Ebony: What's a home ec room? Also yeah tbh**

 **Purple Master: It's gonna be horrible, trust me.**

 **RebelutionaryWrites: He IS an angel I love him**

 **Random Dragon: Bad things.**

 **The Mayor of Ninjago City: The bus driver takes corners veeeeerrrry slowly.**

 **KitKat: Hello**

 **Hey I have no idea how high school actually works because I've never been to one so if I get things wrong just chalk it up to alternate universe (or correct me just don't be mean please I am sensitive)**

* * *

"Hello, fellow teenagers." Lydia yelped loudly as Zane popped… seemingly out of nowhere.

"Zane!" Lloyd jumped, but grinned. "Zane, this is Lydia."

"Hello!" The android spun around to greet her, digital face glitching a bit. "I am Zane. A human teen like you."

"What makes you think I'm human?" Lydia raised an eyebrow. Lloyd gave her a funny look, and Zane's face disappeared for a moment, a blue light coming from his face and sweeping her body. When his face reappeared, he reported,

"You have a 97% match with recorded samples of humans." Lydia's other eyebrow went up.

"Only 97? Am I still 3% ghost?"

"What?" Lloyd broke in. "Are you talking about?"

"Long story." They stepped into the school, and Lydia heard a shout.

"Yo, Lloyd!" The trio looked up to see a red-clad brunette with spiky hair hurrying down the hallway. Kai. "Give me a hug, man. Give me a birthday hug!" Lydia completely missed whatever happened next, as she was busy mentally cussing out Mega. Today. Really? Stick me right in the thick of things, huh? What the heck do you want me to do, there's nothing to fix!

"Lydia! Hello?" Lloyd tapped her shoulder, and she jerked upright.

"Huh? What?"

"You okay?" He gave her a bemused smile. "You seem preoccupied."

"Fine. I'm fine." She waved him off. "It's your birthday today?"

"Yeah."

"Happy Birthday! I hope you have a good one." She gave him the best smile she could manage.

"Thanks." He returned it. "Now come on, we don't want to be late to class." He started walking again, waving her along behind him.

"Um, can I catch up in a minute? I need to check something." He shrugged and nodded.

"We'll be just around the corner." She nodded, and they moved on. As soon as no one was looking, Lydia sprinted into an empty hall and ducked into a broom closet.

After making sure there was no one nearby who could hear her, Lydia gritted her teeth and hissed at the ceiling,

" _Why_ are you like this? I am going to _break your nose_ , Mega. I was _perfectly happy_ at home, with my family and with Morro. Are you listening to me?!" No answer. Muttering threats, Lydia let herself out of the closet and headed in the direction Lloyd had gone.

As she turned into the hall, the first thing she spotted was whats-his-name and his cheerleaders, standing aggressively in front of Lloyd and the rest of the ninja and mocking him. Lydia took a deep breath, ordered herself to not get involved, and began to march down towards them.

As she got close, they started their "boo Lloyd" routine, and she once again tried to ignore them. But, then she saw the way Lloyd's lip quivered, just a _little_ bit, as he tried to mask it with a smile.

Lydia broke into a run and tackled the ringleader to the ground.

"What the- what the ****?!" He yelled as she pinned him down.

"No, no, no!" She lifted one hand from his throat, punctuating each word with a slap across his face. "That is _not_ how we treat Lloyd!" She heard yelling and lots of footsteps, but she ignored it in favor of her target.

"Get off me, crazy *****!" He yelled, and she slapped him again.

"I've been restraining myself from breaking your nose, but if you like…" She hissed, and he tried to kick her. "Ohhh, not how you treat a lady." Seeing red, she raised her arm to slam her elbow into his face, but a pair of strong arms grabbed her, dragging her back. She whirled around to attack them, but stopped short at the sight of Lloyd.

"Lydia! Calm down!" He looked upset. "What are you doing? You can't just attack people!"

"That's right, *****, listen to your boyfriend." Cheerleader Dude snapped, scrambling to his feet and dusting himself off. Lydia let out a derisive laugh.

"Lloyd? Honey, if my _boyfriend_ was here, he'd have cleaned your clock without the warning." She lunged at him again, but Lloyd wrapped both arms around her to hold her back. Cheerleader Dude started to laugh, causing her to NEARLY break out of Lloyd's grip, but he shut up when Kai snapped,

"He's saving your life. Get out of here while you still can." Apparently realizing the truth of Kai's words, the ringleader and his cheerleaders slunk off. Deciding the excitement was over, the crown started to disperse, and Lloyd waited until the hallway was mostly empty to let go of Lydia.

"Why didn't you let me go?" She demanded, spinning around. "I wouldn't have killed him. Just broken a couple bones."

"Lydia, you can't just attack people like that! I just don't want you to get in trouble, especially on your first day!" He looked upset, and her burning anger started to cool.

"There's literally nothing I could care less about. What are they gonna do, kick me out?" She laughed, her voice sounding almost hysterical.

"Wouldn't they send you home? Why'd you decided to come here if you didn't want to go to school here?" His brows knit in confusion, and Lydia laughed again, sinking to the floor.

"I can't go home. Oh man. What am I gonna do?" She laid down on her back, and began running through her survival checklist again as six worried faces appeared over her. "Food, shelter, water. Still got none of those. I'm going to die and then go crazy, in that order." She focused on the faces. Cole's headphones were off. He looked worried. He didn't even know her. He was a good guy. "Oh man. I think the last time I attacked someone with intent to harm them was in Krypterium. Man, that brings back memories."

"Lydia?" Lloyd said hesitantly. "Are you okay?"

"Until I have Mega's head on a pike, no." She paused. "I'm sorry Mega. I'll let you live if you bring me back."

"You're crazy." Jay announced.

"I've made a terrible first impression is what I've done." She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Cole, Kai, Nya, Jay, hi. I'm Lydia." Staring.

"How's she know our names?" Jay asked.

"I must have mentioned it." Lloyd shrugged. Lydia let him believe that.

"I'll ignore the fact that you're talking about me as if I'm not here. Anyway, I'm…" She covered her mouth to hide a yawn. "I'm from Ohio." She'd probably let something slip soon enough and have to explain everything, with the mood she was in. "And I miss my boyfriend and my Karen a lot. Please excuse me if I'm crazy, I'm slowly bleeding to death." This only made most of them look more confused/alarmed, but understanding dawned on Nya's face.

"Shark week." She whispered, and all the boys, excluding Zane, let out a silent _oh_.

"Hey, why're the hallways empty? Did class start?" Lydia glanced around, and the ninja exchanged alarmed glances.

"Yeah. What's your class schedule?" Kai asked. Lydia shrugged.

"Didn't get one."

"Well… come with us, you can sit in on our classes for the first day." Sick. Lydia struggled to her feet, then immediately stumbled into a locker. Her adrenaline high was winding down, and now she was suffering the aftereffects.

"Here. Come on." Lloyd took her arm and lead her down the hall, and Lydia silently begged Mega to keep him from falling for her again.

They rounded a corner, then stepped into a classroom, which quieted the moment the door opened.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Lloyd Garmadon and his band." The teacher, a grey-haired man with a sharp nose and beady eyes snapped from the front of the room. "I'm not surprised it's you who's- oh, who's this?" His eyes fell on her.

"This is Lydia. She's an exchange student from Ohio." Lloyd explained helpfully. "She was having trouble finding her classes, which is why we're a bit late."

"Ah." The teacher looked confused. "I wasn't told anything about an exchange student. Then again, no one tells me anything." He muttered. "Alright, take your seats. But the six of you are still getting marked for tardiness." Before Lydia could even plot to destroy him, Lloyd pushed her into an empty seat and mouthed "no" at her. Fine.

The others sat down, and immediately people started glancing at each other and whispering. Had word gotten around about how she almost murdered Cheerleader Dude? She hoped so. Maybe they'd leave her alone.

The teacher started to talk, and within minutes Lydia was asleep.

* * *

 **I write almost exclusively at midnight so I am tired while writing on a regular basis**

 **~FFF**


	3. Lydia cries over twinkies

**word**

* * *

"Care to explain why you're sleeping in my class, young lady?" Lydia jerked upright as a ruler smacked her shoulder, and she blinked up at the teacher with bleary eyes.

"Oh my gosh, I am…" She yawned. "I'm _so_ sorry. I was on a very late light last night. Jet lag."

"Hmph." He returned to the front of the room, and, within moments, Lydia's head was on the desk again. She really needed some coffee.

Somehow, she made it through the first class awake, and a bell ringing alerted her that it was time to move on. She dragged herself out of her seat, and Kai met her at the door.

"Here." He pressed a little bottle into her hand. "Drink this. It'll keep you awake."

"Oh. Thank you." She unscrewed the cap and downed it in one gulp, immediately cringing at the taste. "Gah. That tastes terrible."

"Yeah, I know." He gave her an apologetic smile, then headed off down the hall. As she followed, she mused over the fact that the ninja had the same voices as the ones she knew. Odd. Was she in an AU? They _looked_ different…

Whatever Kai had given her apparently worked, and she managed to survive until lunch.

"This is the most boring thing I've ever had to do in my life." She complained as she moved down the cafeteria line. "And this food is disgusting."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you've never been to school before." Lloyd teased her.

"Oh, I haven't." She glared at what looked like dried-out macaroni and cheese on her plate. "I was homeschooled back in Ohio."

"Homeschooled?" Jay echoed. "What's that?"

"You don't have homeschooling here? No wonder everything sucks!" Lydia shook her head in dismay. "Uh, it's where the parents teach you."

"Doesn't that only work if your parents are teachers?" Nya asked as the seven made their way towards an empty table in the corner.

"Nah. Neither of my parents are teachers, and my mom taught all nine of us." There was assorted gasping and choking from the ninja.

"Did you say-" Cole coughed. "Did you said nine?"

"Yep." Lydia sat down, poking a plastic-wrapped yellow thing on her tray. "What is this? Cornbread?"

"That's a twizzie. It's a dessert, it's good." Lloyd sat down next to her. "But, is nine kids… normal in Ohio?"

"Not in the least." She sniffed some kind of meat. "Yeah, I'll just starve I guess."

"At least eat this." Lloyd poked the yellow thing. "It tastes good, I promise."

"I'll take your word for it." Slowly, carefully, like she was touching a snake, Lydia unwrapped the snack cake and lifted it to her mouth. She took a tiny bite, then she could swear she did the anime thing where her pupils got really big.

"Wait. Oh my gosh. Is this a twinkie?" She took another, bigger bite. "Oh my gosh. It is. I can die happy now." Lloyd laughed, not in a mean way, just mostly in confusion.

"You're so… carefree." He told her. "You don't care what anyone thinks of you. You're just… open."

"Only around people I care about." She shoved the rest of the twinkie in her mouth as he gave her a really strange look. "I'm going to die. Tell Morro I love him."

"Who?" About three people asked.

"Morro. Boyfriend." Probably freaking out about her. At least, she hoped he was. Kinda. Was that bad? "It's been so long since I've had a twinkie. How many am I allowed to get?"

"One. But here, you can have mine." Lloyd offered his to her, and she balked.

"What? No. It's your _birthday_."

"It's fine. They're just pure sugar anyway, I don't mind. And you clearly enjoy them more than I do." Despite her protests, he set it on her tray.

"W-well, if you're sure-" She broke off at the sight of Kai, Nya, Zane, and Cole offering theirs to her as well.

"If you're not gonna eat anything else." Kai said with a shrug. Lydia pressed her hands against her face.

"You guys are gonna make me cry, I swear. You are the _nicest_ people."

"You're the nicest person to us in a while." Kai pointed out. Lydia sniffled, then slowly lowered her hands from her face to look around the room. More than a few hateful glares were shot her way.

"You know what? Not a shock." Grinning to chase away the threatening tears, Lydia shook her head, accepting the offered treats. All eyes then turned to Jay, who clutched his twinkie protectively to his chest.

"You can fight me, but I won't give this up." Lydia laughed.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Jay. I wouldn't give mine away if I were you."

"That's because you're a twinkie hoarder."

"I didn't _ask_ for- Jay, do you dislike me?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "First Kai, now Jay. There's one in every universe."

"What?" Kai tilted his head at her. " _What_ about me?"

"Nothing. Nevermind." She unwrapped one of the generously-donated twinkies and ate half of it. "Maybe the sugar will keep me awake."

"Good luck with that." Kai put a hand on her shoulder sympathetically. "We have Mrs. Pearson's class next. She can put anyone to sleep."

"Rats.

The rest of lunch was pretty quiet, with the only action being Cheerleader Dude and his squad performing 'boo Lloyd' for another table. They only got halfway through before Lydia stood up and headed in their direction, causing them to scurry off and resume eating their lunch. Lydia was pleased to discover that she was intimidating.

About half an hour after she'd finished eating, a bell rang and all the students began to file out of the room. She noticed Lloyd giving everyone he could a friendly smile as they returned their trays to a stack and started to leave. Don't-change-the-future Lydia and let-Lloyd-have-a-nice-day Lydia had a brief fight, and let-Lloyd-have-a-nice-day Lydia won. Before they left the room, she pulled him aside.

"Lloyd, we need to talk." She announced as he started to protest. "About your smiling."

"What's… wrong with my smiling?" He looked confused and a bit hurt.

"You need to stop smiling all the time at these people who hate you. I understand you want them to like you, but it's not going to hurt. It's probably just gonna make it worse. 'Cause, by trying to treat these people like your friends, you're showing them how desperate you are for them to like you. And, being the sickos they are, they're gonna treat you worse 'cause they know it'll get to you.

"If you just ignore them for the most part, and just focus on the friends you have, they might leave you alone a little more. And honestly? These people don't _deserve_ you. They're shallow, swayed by rumors and peer pressure to hate you. You're the sweetest guy in the school, and probably the _city_ , and if they can't see that through their blind hatred, then they don't deserve to be around you." She took a deep breath. "Did that make any sense?"

"Um… yes, but…" He narrowed his eyes a bit. "You act like you know a lot about me. Even though we met just a few hours ago. How?" Uh oh.

"I'm very observant." Lying, a quick and easy fix for when local Lloyds start to see through your shoddily-made cover story.

"Oh." He nodded. "I… guess that makes sense. Now come on, hurry, we don't wanna be late. Again."

"Oh yeah. Shoot." Nearly tripping in her haste, Lydia dashed into the hallway, then remembered she didn't know where the classroom was. Lloyd followed her out, chuckling at her expression.

"Come on, this way. You'll know your way around soon enough." He assured her as she followed him down the hall. She sure hoped not. With any luck, Morro would track her down and get her out of here before she managed to ruin everything.

"You don't have any problem with me smiling at my friends, right?" He asked.

"No, of course not." She shook her head as she hurried to catch up with him.

"Good." He looked over his shoulder and gave her a dazzling smile. She stopped walking.

"Oh. You set me up, you sneaky little… get back here!" She yelled after him as he disappeared around the corner.

"We don't want to be late!" He called back cheerfully. Grinning and shaking her head, Lydia hurried after him.

This might not be so bad after all.

* * *

 **She's so optimistic :)**

 **~FFF**


	4. keeping secrets is hard ok

**Fun fact: I forgot I didn't do review replies last time. I typed it in and prepped it to be posted, but then left for college, and when I got back I posted it without double checking. whoops.**

 **also, a bit shout out to lolwowsexist (guest) for motivating me with spite to finish this and an entire other chapter last night after reading their review!**

 **Review replies:**

 **Rebelutionary: Aren't they? they're the sweetest beans.**

 **NinjagoGeek4Ever: We've established that, yes.**

 **Ebony: And then Garmadon attacked.**

 **Guest: 💓💓💓💕💕**

 **lolwowsexist: Objection, your honor! First off, congratulations on being my first negative review on any story I've ever written! 🎉🎉🎉 Second off, let's start with the fact that yes, that's me. And yes, I'm annoying. I am, in fact, a human being. Statistically, 99.9% of human beings have flaws. Some flaws can include, in my case, anger issues. Third off, "ya violet little child". Check your autocorrect settings, and always remember to proofread. Additionally, I'm 17. I somehow doubt you're older than me and are in any position to call me a child. Fourth off, both your comments "the whole "beat someone up if they makes fun of you" attitude" and "that'll certainly make the world a better place" are inaccurate. I claimed to do no such thing when I attacked someone who was making fun of** _Lloyd_ **. I don't give a heck if people mess with me, not at this point. And, as earlier stated, I have anger issues. If you read back to the scene in question, Lydia was described as "seeing red". Seeing red is when someone is blinded by their anger. At this point, I was only interested in teaching my target a lesson. Fifth off, your comment suggests that you have not read the first book. In fact, I suspect a few of you haven't read the first book. If you're reading this and haven't read the first book, raise your hand. I'd really recommend reading it. Except for you, my fine fellow. I don't think you'd enjoy it, I have flaws in that one too.**

* * *

Lydia was startled awake by an alarm blaring loudly.

"It's Garmadon!" The teacher exclaimed in alarm. "Everyone duck and cover!"

"Thanks _Lloyd_." Most of the class chorused. Lydia hurled a pencil at the closest one. Hit him right in the back of the head. Nice.

As most of the students got down under their desks, Lydia stood and left the room. Just. Got up and left. No one seemed to notice. A moment later, six teens flooded out, then immediately stopped at the sight of her.

"Lydia, you should get to safety." Lloyd began, sounding uncertain. "My dad's attacking the city. It's not safe."

"I have no sense of self-preservation." She shrugged. "I just wanted to say, _don't_ talk to you dad. He'll just be a jerk to you and ruin your day. And if you're late getting home, _call your mom_. She worries about you." Six pairs of eyes stared blankly at her. "Well, go on! Ninjago's not gonna save itself!" She shooed them away. Instead of obeying, Cole grabbed her by the front of the shirt, dragged her away from the classroom door, and pushed her against the wall.

"Do you know our secret?!" He demanded.

"You're really strong." She remarked. "And really intimidating up close. Why don't you do this to people who bother Lloyd? I swear, I've known him for less than a day and I care about him more than you guys."

"Yeah. You've known him less than a day. How do you know all that about him?" Kai snapped. "And don't think for one second that just 'cause we're not starting fights every second that we don't care about Lloyd.

"Then why don't you stand up for him?"

"Answer my question!" Cole yelled, shaking her.

"Okay, okay, geez." Lydia huffed. "Yes. I know you guys are the ninja. I don't know why you're so worked up about it, it wouldn't be the end of the world if the secret got out." The ninja just exchanged alarmed glances. "Look, I'll explain later. Go save people." She nodded in the direction of their lockers. Cole glanced at Lloyd, who bit his lip but nodded. Lydia felt a pang of sadness as Cole let go of her. Lloyd didn't like her anymore.

"Stay here." The blond ordered. "I don't know what you know, but I'm pretty sure you're not a ninja, so stay there it's safe."

"Technically, none of you are ninja either." She pointed out. Staring. "GO. Geez." They gave her a few more suspicious looks, but ran off.

As soon as they were out of sight, Lydia headed off down the hall in the other direction.

"Let's see. There's probably roof access somewhere." She mused. "And the ninja's warehouse is probably close by. 'Cause they have some kind of tunnel thing. Sooo… I might be able to see it from the roof! And everyone is hiding, so I shouldn't be bothered. Easy." With this goal in mind, Lydia set off in search of a stairway or ladder.

It was half an hour of searching later what she finally found a ladder to the roof. They needed some decent maps. She climbed up the grimy ladder (ew) and opened a hatch that lead onto the roof.

There was a robot shark lying about eight feet away from the hatch. Not a real shark, which was good. Garmadon would extinct sharks in about a week if he kept throwing them at Ninjago City, and presumably left them to die.

So, that was the good news. The bad news was that it was inching towards her, and it looked like there was a buzz saw or something in its' mouth.

Lydia climbed up onto the roof and shielded her face with his hand, looking around for a warehouse. Near the water, specifically. Nya's mech went into the water from the roof. She headed over by the railing, looking all around. Which way was the ocean?

She looked up, and her mouth dropped open.

There were tons of flying vehicles in the sky, many modeled after sea creatures (apparently that was canon), which were driven by guys in sea creature costumes. Why were they fish themed? He was bitten by a snake bitten by a spider. Why not snake or spider themed?

A flash of green caught her eye, and she turned to see Lloyd's dragon mech hurtling through the air towards… what looked like Garmadon's shark mech. A missile shot from the dragon's mouth, and the shark mech toppled over. Lloyd wasn't using his full power attack. So… was he not mad? Had he not talked to his dad? Good. That would make his day significantly better.

A loud _crash_ of metal on concrete sounded behind her, and she spun around with a shriek.

A squad of crab-robot-people were flying towards the school, shooting robot sharks at her. Maybe this was what Lloyd meant about danger. Quickly, she scrambled back towards the hatch and ducked back inside, closing the hatch behind her and climbing back to ground level. She'd have to search on foot.

A shark crashed through the window, and she began to reconsider this plan. Were they gonna trash the school to get at her? Maybe she _should_ try and get to safety. But where in the school was safe? She was _not_ hiding under a desk. Fortunately, no more sharks hit the building, they must have moved on. Carefully, she made her away past the shark, flopping around on the floor of the hallway, and headed towards the front of the building.

"Which way is the dang ocean?" She muttered to herself as she stepped out the front doors. "I think… let's see." She glanced up, then down at her watch. "According to my watch, it is… midnight! Okay, no help." She squinted up at the sun. "Looks like about 3 PM. Sun is down… westward, so the other way is east." She turned and pointed eastward. "And I believe I saw the sun rising to the _right_ of the ocean, so…" She slowly turned her outstretched hand a bit to the left. " _That_ way!" She started walking. Survival check: nat 20.

Indeed, it took her only a few minutes of walking (during which several large things fell around her, but she was unharmed – thanks Mega) for her to spot the ocean. And a large warehouse right by the docks. Sick.

As she wandered over towards it, she spotted six mechs making their way over, climbing/flying through the roof and disappearing inside. Lydia ambled over to a side door – unlocked – and opened it to see the ninja chatting cheerfully as they exited their mechs.

"You guys _really_ need to be a bit more inconspicuous in your hiding." She announced loudly. All the ninja whirled around to look at her.

"L-Lydia?" Jay exclaimed. "What- what are you doing here?"

"I walked." Was that the answer he was looking for? Probably not, not grammatically correct. "Uhh, following you? I saw your mechs go in. Hence my comment about hiding."

"She has a point." Kai mused.

"So." Lloyd pulled off his hood, stalking towards her. "How did you know?" Lydia took a few moments to stare at him. His outfit was _much_ more ninja-like than in the show, mostly black with green accents rather than the other way around. His platinum-blond hair was windswept and messy, some of it falling over his _strikingly_ green eyes. And he looked so _serious_. I am so sorry Lloyd, but you're not intimidating at all.

"I haven't been completely honest with you. I'm sorry." She began, looking away to stave off the urge to go 'awww'. "But I couldn't say this in public. I'm not an exchange student, or a student at all, actually. I just showed up 'cause I needed food and shelter. But uh, anyway, I'm from another dimension, sent here on a whim from an idiot destiny writer." Staring. "I understand if you don't believe me, or if you're mad. But that's all I know, I swear."

"What do you mean 'sent here'?" Jay spoke up.

"I just woke up in the park." She shrugged. "It happened before with a different dimension. That's where I met Morro." Lloyd frowned, but didn't comment. "I'll probably go back there tonight to spend the night." All the ninja started talking at once.

"No. No way." Cole gestured violently to prove his point. "It is totally unsafe for a girl like you to spend the night alone in the park."

"48% of kidnappings, homicide, and sexual harassment cases are in the context of spending the night alone in an unsupervised place!" Zane exclaimed.

"You can stay with any of us." Kai gestured to the group. "Nya, if that would make you feel better." Jay, Lloyd, and Nya nodded in agreement. Lydia stared.

"Wh… you're still gonna be nice to me?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Even after I lied to you?"

"No damage done. And you _were_ nice to us." Lloyd shrugged. Lydia took a deep breath, then let it out.

"This is all part of your elaborate plan to make me cry, isn't it?" Lloyd chuckled.

"No. But, you never did answer my question. How did you know about us?" Lydia blinked.

"I… can't tell you." Staring.

"Why not?" Nya asked after a moment.

"I can't change the future. But I know bits and pieces about your lives and futures." Staring and exclamations of shock.

"Wh- for real?" Kai demanded. She nodded. "Well _tell_ us!"

"No! I don't want to change things!" Your future is good, I don't want to mess it up!" Lydia you idiot, you already have.

"How bad could it be?"

"Oh, very, very bad." She widened her eyes and shook her head. "Just… pretend I'm not a future-seeing mystery teen from beyond the void. Treat me like a probably-crazy teenager who just transferred from across the ocean. That'll make this easier on all of us until Morro tracks me down and brings me back." Although, Lloyd was scheduled to summon Meowthra tomorrow. How much time did he have? Not much. And, if time passed three times faster here like it did in normal Ninjago…

"You're gonna leave?" Lloyd's face fell, and his voice was sad, and Lydia's heart broke a little bit.

"Yeah, my family is back there. But I'll visit if I can." She gave him a hopeful smile, and he tried to return it. "Hey, can anyone tell me what time it is? My watch says it's midnight." Kai pulled out his cell phone and checked it.

"2:58 PM."

"Thanks. Love you."

"Hello, students." All seven of them jumped, and Lydia whirled around to see Wu standing a couple feet behind her.

"Hey Wu." She leaned over to mess with her watch.

"Master Wu!" Kai exclaimed. Lydia snickered.

"Hello." Wu nodded. "I see you have acquired another ninja in my absence."

"What?" Lydia's head jerked up. "Me?" He nodded. "No, no, I'm just a crazy teenager from beyond the void." Wu just nodded again.

"I see."

"Master Wu, this is Lydia. She's from another dimension." Lloyd elaborated. She waved.

"Hi."

"Hello." He bowed to her in greeting. "I would introduce myself, but it appears you already know me."

"Yep." Behind her, she heard the chiming of cell phones, and turned to see all the ninja pulling their phones out of various pockets. Apparently the _movie_ ninja had pockets in their outfits.

"School's closed for the rest of the day." Cole reported after a moment. "There was damage to the school building. Nothing major, just a few broken windows." Lydia pumped her fist in the air.

"YES! No more school!"

"Until tomorrow." Kai reminded her.

"Technically, I'm not enrolled, so I don't have to show up. But I do enjoy spiting my classmates, so I probably will." Lloyd rolled his eyes at her.

"Wonderful. You ninja can all spend the rest of the afternoon training." Wu announced. The six let out a collective groan.

"But masterrrr!" Jay complained. "Can't we just go home?"

"No." Lydia slowly raised her hand.

"Lloyd was just about to take me home with him. Can we go?" Wu turned and studied her for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well. The rest of you, practice your spinjitzu." The rest of the ninja, excluding Zane, gave her a halfhearted glare, to which she responded with,

"It's his _birthday_." Mouthed in their direction before walking off and waving Lloyd along with her.

"Hang on." Lloyd hurried over to grab his jacket, which was hanging on a hook on the wall, and put it on over his gi. "Alright, follow me." She waited for him to pass her, then followed him through the door, out of the warehouse, and into Ninjago City.

* * *

 **Really would recommend y'all read the first book.**

 **~FFF**


	5. always play with your food

**Review replies:**

 **RandomDragon: Yeah. Sorry x'D**

 **Spottedfrost: I will YEET myself into DietCokeIsLife's fics and FIGHT anyone who disrespects Morro.**

 **Ebony: They're a chill bunch. Was? Is? Probably.**

 **Purple Master: 👍**

 **Candy: Fun fact: I've never been to a starbucks**

 **The Trickiest One: Oh hey, twins. :D**

 **Proofread for like, half of it. I need to work on dinner ok**

* * *

"Alright, so let's go over the facts one more time." Morro ran a hand through his hair, staring down at the sheet of paper in front of him. "Lydia was here last night when her mom checked on her, about 11. When Angela was sent to get her up this morning, she was gone." Next to him, Karen nodded.

"No keys are missing, and mom says all the doors were locked when she got up this morning. It's also really unlikely she left voluntarily, as she left her purse behind and none of the cars are missing. Plus, why?" Karen nodded again.

"There's no sign of forced entry anywhere, or and blood or signs of a struggle. It's unlikely that she was kidnapped or murdered." Nod. "And, finally, the Realm Crystal's still here. She's not visiting a friend somewhere. It's like she just… vanished." Morro drummed his fingers on the table. "But where, how, and why?"

 _"Could she be poofed to Ninjago for some reason?"_ Karen scribbled on her whiteboard. Morro frowned.

"Maybe. That's a good place to start, at least." He pushed his chair back and stood up. "Let's tell mom where we're going, then we'll go check it out."

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"That's the sushi place my mom and I go to sometimes." Lloyd pointed to a restaurant with a flashing, neon sign as they passed it. "The servers are pretty nice. And that's where I used to get ice cream as a kid!" he started to point, but quickly dropped his hand and pulled his hood over his hair as someone looked in his direction.

"Do you ever just… get harassed on the streets?" Lydia asked, her hands in her pockets and a frown on her face.

"Sometimes." He pulled up her sleeve to show her a dark bruise on his forearm. "Someone threw a rock at me a couple days ago. He had really good aim." He chuckled weakly. Lydia scowled.

"Does your mom know about this?"

"Not this time. I don't want to worry her." Lydia gave him a hard look. "She's really busy, okay? I don't want to put that burden on her." He shoved his hands in his hoodie pockets. Lydia patted his shoulder.

"You are honestly the sweetest kid I've ever met. You're 16, right?" He blinked, then nodded.

"As of today, yeah."

"Oh my gosh. You're so young. I'm 17." Lloyd stopped short.

"Really?" She nodded. "I thought you were my age, if not younger."

"Pshh, really? Usually people mistake me for being in my 20s or something. Then again, in my world I'm in college, so people assume I'm older." He started walking again.

"Yeah. You must be smart to be in college at 17."

"I credit homeschooling for everything." She shrugged.

"I see. Come on, we're almost there." He turned a corner, and a block of apartment buildings came into view. Lloyd lead her up to the first one, then let them in through the side door – "so less people see me" – and up two flights of stairs to his apartment.

"My mom's probably still at work." He told her as he unlocked the door. "She usually gets home a little before I do, around four."

"Hmm." Lydia glanced at her newly-reset watch. "So, about 45 minutes."

"Yeah." Lloyd pushed the door open a little way, peeked through, then opened it wide and waved her inside. "It's not very big, but make yourself at home." Lydia cautiously ventured into the apartment, looking around. It consisted of a big room that was half living room, half kitchen, and two doorways on the right side. It wasn't pristine, but it was fairly clean and tidy.

"It's… cute." She remarked, turning in a slow circle. "Small. But my house is _huge_ , so I'm biased. We've got 11- wait, 13 people living there." Lloyd frowned, locking the door behind them.

"You, eight siblings, and…?"

"Mom, Dad, Karen, Morro. Karen's one of my best friends, and Morro's my boyfriend. They didn't have a place to stay, so they live with us now." Lloyd nodded slowly.

"That must be… crazy."

"Oh, it is." Lydia laughed. "So, what do you do if you get home before your mom?"

"Get a snack, watch TV, usually." Lloyd walked over to the couch and sat down. "What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno…" She got a mischievous look in her eye. "Play catch?" Lloyd blushed and looked away.

"I can't… catch. Or throw."

"I know. But I can teach you!" Heck canon. "Lemme find something to throw." She headed over to the kitchen, rummaging around for a moment before coming up with an orange. "You like oranges?"

"Uhh… they're okay? They're not my favorite."

"Good. This one's gonna be in a sorry state by the time we're done." She headed back towards him, sitting down cross-legged in front of the couch. "Catch!" She tossed the orange to him. His eyes flying open wide, he fumbled it and dropped it onto his lap. "Now throw it back."

"I don't know how!" He protested.

"It's easy. You'll figure it out in no time, I promise." She hopped to her feet, grabbed a pillow from the couch, set it down where she had been sitting, and sat down beside him. "Alright, so what you wanna do here is a toss, or an underhanded throw." She took the orange and slowly went through the motions of the throw. "As opposed to an overhanded throw." She went through the motions for that one. "Underhanded is slower and safer, good for passing something to someone. Overhand is for hitting someone or something, like in dodgeball." Lloyd deflated a little bit.

"I _hate_ dodgeball." He muttered.

"Completely understandable." She patted his shoulder. "Arright, I want you to watch me while I throw this, then you try." He nodded slowly, and she tossed the orange onto the cushion. "Really basic, not a lot of force." She scooped up the orange and passed it to him. "You try." He bit his lip, then jerkily tossed the orange. It landed on the edge of the pillow and rolled off. "You hit it! Nice job!" She praised, and a shaky smile lit up his face as she hopped off the couch to collect it.

"Now, on the other side of the coin is catching." She tossed the orange in the air and caught it. "Catching is predicting where the object is going to be, then moving in a position to intercept it. For something small, like an orange, you would cup one or both hands and let it drop into them, then squeeze. Catch!" She tossed him the orange again, and he jumped, but cupped his hands and caught it. "On the first try! Nice!" He grinned. "Now toss it back to me." He obeyed, but threw far too low. She still caught it. "Now, for a larger object, like a dodgeball – how big are your dodgeballs?" He frowned.

"About this big?" He held his hands about a half a foot apart.

"Arrigt, something that big, you either wanna catch it like this-" She held out both hands in front of her. "And squeeze inwards when it hits your hands, or get it to hit your chest and kinda give it a hug." She mimed hugging a ball. "Catch!" She threw the orange at him, and he caught it in both hands.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this." He tossed it back, and she caught it, then tossed it back to him.

"See? Not hard at all." She gave him a big smile – she was really happy her teaching worked.

The two played catch with an orange for another half-hour before his mom got home, practicing overhand and underhand and different types of catching. They didn't even beat up the orange that badly!

A click in the lock alerted them of Lloyd's mom returning, and the two looked up as she pushed the door open, a purse over one arm and a shopping bag over the other.

"Lloyd! You're home early." She exclaimed upon seeing him. "And… who is this?" Her smile faltered upon seeing Lydia.

"She's new at my school, and she doesn't have a place to stay, so I offered to let her stay here." Lloyd explained as Lydia stared. She was… so _young_.

"Oh." Koko smiled again. "What's your name, honey?"

"Uh, hi. I'm Lydia. Can I call you Koko?" She nodded.

"Everyone calls me that. Well, except Lloyd, I suppose." Her gaze fell on the orange. "Having a snack?"

"Actually, she was…" He blushed a bit. "…teaching me how to play catch."

"Couldn't find a ball." Lydia shrugged. "But this worked well enough."

"Ah." Koko headed over to the counter and set down her bags. "As long as you're home, I'm going to get started on dinner. Why don't you go show Lydia your room?" She shooed them away, and Lloyd nodded, standing and heading towards one of the doorways.

"C'mon." She wandered after him into a small, traditionally-decorated room. Reminded her of a Hylotl village. There was a game console in one corner hooked up to a TV, and a stash of toys in the other corner, between her and which Lloyd inconspicuously placed himself.

"Like the rest of the house, it's pretty small." He gestured vaguely to the room. "The windows help it not look so cramped. You can sleep here tonight if you want." Lydia nodded, then blinked and shook her head.

"Nahh, I'll sleep on the couch or something. Heck, I can sleep on the floor. I won't give a heck."

"You won't be comfortable on the floor." He protested.

"I won't be comfortable anywhere. I have…" She flipped her hair. "…insomnia."

"Oh." Lloyd frowned. "So you can't sleep?"

"I take pills to knock me out. Don't suppose you have any of those?"

"Not as far as I know."

"Hmm." The two stood in silence for a moment. "Lloyd?"

"Yeah?" Lydia hurled the orange at him.

"Catch!"

" _Hey!_ "

* * *

 **And YOU get an orange and YOU get an orange and**

 **~FFF**


	6. a hitchhiker's guide to living on coffee

**yall really like oranges huh**

 **Review replies:**

 **NinjagoGeek: Here we go again!**

 **RandomDragon: *hurls oranges at you***

 **Ebony: They have Garmadon attacking them every day. They're chill people.**

 **Guest 1: Oh, maybe. I don't know what the limit of his processor is, is he really smart like show Zane or no?**

 **Guest 2: Sure**

 **NPWTF: I don't understand your acronyms x'D**

 **HiPotato: then don't... don't read it? it's not hard dude**

 **SpottedFrost: That was the intent, yep.**

 **Candaru: I'm good at that**

 **Bookkeeper: I think Mega's scared to cross Morro. x'D**

* * *

"It is way, _way_ too early to be getting up." Lydia grumbled, her head on her arms as she sat flopped over on the edge of the table.

"We have to get up now or we'll miss the bus." Lloyd told her between bites of cereal.

"I've decided high school is stupid. In my new world, Lydiatopia, high school will be illegal."

"Good luck with that." Lloyd patted her shoulder. The previous evening had actually been a really good one. Lloyd had gotten to eat his cake, which was chocolate, his favorite, and neither him nor his mom went to bed sad. So, score. Lydia, unfortunately, got very little sleep. She had won her argument with Lloyd about sleeping arrangements, and spent most of the night on the couch and some on the floor. Not much of it actually sleeping. Henceforth, she was exhausted.

"Here." She heard a _plunk_ , and lifted her head a bit to see Koko having just set down a mug of coffee in front of her. "Cream or sugar?"

"Lots of both, please." She pushed herself into an upright position with a groan. "I'm not gonna make it through the day."

"This will help." Koko poured in some sugar and cream, then stuck a spoon in the mug. "Drink it fast. You have to leave soon."

"Thank you. I'm kinda immune to caffeine, though. It's not gonna help much." She started to stir the contents of the mug. "What I need is a good fight."

"I'll fight you." Lloyd offered.

"Won't work. I have to want to hurt the person, and I definitely don't want to hurt you."

"I wouldn't recommend fighting anyone." Koko set a plate with toast in front of her. "Eat."

"Okay. Thank you." She obediently picked up a slice and took a bite.

"She attacked a guy making fun of me yesterday." Lloyd told her cheerfully. "She tackled him and hit him. He hasn't gotten near me since."

"Oh my." Koko gave her a strange look. "Who taught you that, young lady?"

"Uh, gonna blame my boyfriend." She shrugged, her mouth halfway full. "He's been teaching me stuff. He wants me to be able to do a flip, but I _can't_. Geez." Lloyd chuckled, then stood up and grabbed his backpack.

"Come on. Bus'll be here any minute." Lydia shoved the rest of the toast in her mouth and nodded, taking a swig off coffee before signing 'thank you' to Koko and following Lloyd out the door.

The two headed down the stairs and out the side door, then down the sidewalk a little ways to a bus stop. Lydia yawned, glanced around at the people nearby – not many – and leaned over to Lloyd, saying,

"So why not tell your mom you're a ninja?" He stiffened, looking back and forth.

"I just… she gets so worried about me already." He said after a moment, lowering his head. "If she knew I was throwing myself into danger all of the time…" He shrugged. "I don't want to put that weight on her."

"Lloyd, I think your mom would prefer to have a son who didn't keep things from her than a son who was mildly okay." Lydia cupped her chin in her hand. "That's just the sort of thing you tell your mom."

"Do you tell your mom that you randomly hop dimensions?" He gave her a side-eyed look. She nodded.

"Yep. At this point she just rolls with it for the most part. Weird things happen to me." Lloyd blinked.

"Okaaay..." The bus pulled up in front of them, and their conversation ended as they climbed aboard and sat down. As the other students dutifully moved to the other side of the bus, Lydia scooted closer to Lloyd, rested her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes.

"Wake me up when we get there." She mumbled. Lloyd stiffened, but stammered,

"Uh, o-okay." The bus started moving, and Lydia drifted off.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"Lydia, wake up. We're here." Lydia's support moved, and she fell over. "Oh. You're really asleep, aren't you?"

"I wish I was still asleep." She grumbled. "Alright, let's go. School. Woo." Picking herself up off the seat, Lydia dragged herself out of the bus, Lloyd hovering at her elbow in case she fell. What a good kid.

The other ninja met then in the entry hall, Kai immediately offering her another one of those little energy drink bottles. As she gulped it down, she noticed all the ninja huddling and whispering to each other. What were they doing? They were excluding her, were they talking about her?

With Kai's help, she made it through the morning awake. By lunch, though, she was itching for a fight. _Anything_ to break up the monotony of school. How did anyone survive this for 13 years?

As she poked at her cold spaghetti, she noticed the ninja putting slips of paper into Nya's motorcycle helmet. Once they were done, Cole slid it over to her, and said,

"Draw a name."

"Huh?" She looked up, blinked owlishly at him, then reached into the helmet and pulled out a piece of paper. "What is this?"

"What's it say?" Jay asked. She unfolded it.

"Kai and Nya. What's it mean?" Nya whooped.

"Yeah, girl! Sleepover!"

"We wanted to take turns having you stay over, but we couldn't agree on who got to go when." Kai explained with a grin. "So we raffled you off. But you don't have to go anywhere with anyone if you don't want to, of course." Lydia blinked again.

"Oh, yeah. Fair enough. I'm cool with staying with you two." She rested her head on the table and closed her eyes. Cole laughed.

"I think that sleepover is gonna be mostly sleep, Nya."

"I've never had a sleepover." Lydia mumbled. Nya gasped.

"Are you serious?" Lydia nodded. "Girrrrrrl, we've got to do something about that!"

"After sleep." Headdesk. Nya laughed.

"Okay, fine. If you insist."

The rest of lunch was calm, with Lydia not even touching her food and everyone else chatting vaguely. When the bell rang, they all milled off to their respective classes, and Lydia forced herself awake as she waited for Garmadon to attack.

* * *

 **That is if you haven't ruined it by now you idiot**

 **short chapter, I was tired okay**

 **Don't expect an update tomorrow**

 **~FFF**


	7. kids? kids? children?

**i aint proofreading this**

 **Review replies:**

 **Purple master: she has a hard life**

 **RandomDragon: more than you might think ;)  
**

 **Spottedfrost: that is a wonderful idea, thank you**

 **Rebelutionary: ahaha oops. It also begs the question of how long Zane has been alive(?) cause getting degrees takes a long time.**

 **Ebony: I always expect nice long reviews from you and I get this I am disappointed (kidding I love you)**

 **candy: "I guess"**

 **Ninjagogeek: ugh ikr**

 **Trickiest: Let Me Sleep 2k18**

 **Bookkeeper: Hopefully**

 **Guest 1: I'm so glad I skipped high school. And with any luck Lloyd won't fall in love with Lydia, but I really don't have any say in the matter.**

 **Aurro: Yeah, I am gonna have SO MUCH FUN fleshing out the other ninja**

 **Guest 2: AWWW! :'D Thank you!**

* * *

Garmadon didn't attack that day.

Lydia spent the bus drive home in silence, mulling over this new development. It… it was the next day that he was supposed to attack, wasn't it? She should wait another couple days before freaking out about it.

Kai and Nya seemed surprisingly popular with the other passengers. They were currently involved in some sort of rowdy game, which she was glad of because it meant she could think without trying to attempt a conversation at the same time. But that was interesting. Did people like them better when they weren't around Lloyd? That sucked.

Eventually, the bus pulled up in front of a mid-sized suburban home, and Kai and Nya beckoned her off the bus. The yard was very neat and well-maintained, and there was a pretty flowerbed along the front side of the house. Kai and Nya lead her up the front walk, then rang the doorbell. They waited a few seconds, then the doorknob wobbled, and the door opened to reveal a tiny little child with black hair down to his shoulders. He looked up at them, let out a squeal, and made a break for the street.

" _Whoa_ there, kiddo! No escaping!" Lydia snatched him up as he ran past her, making him screech in tiny rage.

"Nice catch." Nya said with a laugh as a yell sounded from the house.

" _Cory!_ " A dark-haired woman – Maya – skidded into view, then pressed a hand to her chest. "Oh, thank God. Every since he's learned how to open doors I've lived in constant fear of this happening. You must be Lydia." She gave her a warm smile. "Come on in, everyone. Especially you, my little escape artist." She shook a stern finger at the child, then headed back down the hall. Lydia turned to look at Kai and Nya with wide eyes.

"You didn't tell me you had a little brother!"

"Two, actually." Kai grinned, holding up two fingers. "And a baby sister." Lydia's eyes got wider.

"You didn't tell me you had little siblings!"

"Sorry. It just didn't come up." Nya said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get this little Houdini inside." They stepped into the house, and Lydia, shaking her head, followed.

The house was pretty messy, toys scattered all over the floor in the hallway and living room. In the middle of the room was a little girl with _very_ pale hair, almost white, and so fine that it fell in barely-visible ringlets down to her ears. She looks like she was about a year and a half old. She looked up when they entered the room, and let out a happy yell, abandoning her blocks and crawling towards them. Kai took a huge step to meet her, and scooped her up, lifting her above his head.

"What's my favorite little sister been doing all day?" He asked in a silly voice as she giggled and grabbed at his hair. "Ooof, growing, I see. You're getting so heavy!" He lowered her down and set her on her feet. She managed to stay upright for a moment before sitting down hard with a yelp.

"Lydia, this is Angela." Nya sat down next to the toddler and leaned close to her. "Can you say 'hi'?" Angela gave her a blank stare.

"Hello cutie!" Lydia set Cory down – who immediately ran off – and knelt in front of the tiny little girl. "You wanna hear a secret?" She leaned close. " _I_ have a sister named Angela." She reacted to her name, giggling and lifting her hands up in the air. "You're so _small_." Lydia whispered reverently.

Abruptly, Kai swore – prompting Nya to clap her hands over Angela's ears – , vaulted to his feet, and sprinted off down the hall. A moment later, he returned with Cory tucked under his arm.

"It's like he _wants_ to get hit by a car." He muttered. "Cory, say hi to Lydia!" Cory just crossed his arms and stuck out his lower lip.

"Aww, were you thwarted?" Lydia patted his head. "I'd recommend getting a baby gate. Is he a good climber?"

"Not great. He can unlock doors, though." Kai pointed a stern finger at the sulking child. "Go outside again and you're going to your room. You hear me?"

"Okay." Cory grumbled in his little squeaky voice.

"Now go sit on the couch." Kai set him down, and he skulked over to the couch and sat on the very edge of it. "Lemme go get Rowan for you." Kai took off again.

"Kai loves his little brothers." Nya said fondly, pulling Angela into her lap. "And sisters, too, of course. He's gonna make a great dad someday."

"Yeah. He is." Lydia smiled, cupping her chin in her palm.

"Here's monkey #2." Kai carried another tiny child into the room, who… looked just like Cory, but with shorter hair. Seeing her glancing back and forth between them, Kai said with a laugh, "They're identical twins. The hair helps us tell them apart."

"Ohhh. Wait. Are you and Nya twins? You're in the same grade."

"Nope!" Kai stepped over and mussed Nya's hair, causing her to shriek and swat him away. "My little sister is sooooooo smart, she skipped a grade!"

"Not only that, but she's the finest ninja in Ninjago." Nya shot back. Kai tilted his head.

"Well, y'know, that's… debatable."

"Gonne have to say I'm with your sister on this one, Kai." Maya stepped into the room, hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. "You once set the grocery store on fire."

"Garmadon was standing on the roof!" Kai tried to defend himself.

"All the more reason to be careful! Do you think your best friend would appreciate you flame-broiling his father?"

"Some days, I don't think he would mind."

"What's this I hear about flame-broiling fathers?" A new voice joined the mix, and Lydia turned to see an older man step into the room. Ray.

"Not you, Dad, Lloyd's." Nya explained. "Dad, this is Lydia."

"Oh, your friend. Hello there!" Lydia waved wordlessly. "Quiet, isn't she?"

"Overwhelmed." She replied with a nervous laugh. "Lots of new information."

"Oh. Yeah, our family has that effect on people." Ray laughed. "What with there being 7 of us, and all." Lydia giggled.

"Yeah. I have 13 people living at my house." Ray stared.

"13?"

"Yeah." He whistled.

"Wow. 11 kids?"

"9 kids, 2 parents, my boyfriend, and his best friend." Maya gave her a stern look.

"Living with your boyfriend?"

"He didn't have anywhere else to go. He sleeps on a different floor than me, nothing goes on." She hastened to explain. Maya looked pacified.

"Alright, that's reasonable. Nya, honey, can you help me with dinner?"

"Sure." Nya moved Angela off her lap, and hopped up, following her mother back into the kitchen. Lydia stared at the tiny child until Ray chuckled and asked,

"Do you want to hold her?"

"Please." Lydia pulled Angela into her lap, who began poking her shirt. "Is she… adopted? I'm noticing a severe lack of blond hair in all the other kids."

"First off, I'm mildly offended that you refer to me as a kid." Kai cut in. "I'm older than you. Second-"

"You are?" Lydia interrupted. "Aren't you 16?" Kai frowned.

"Yeah. Aren't you 14 or 15?" Lydia stared.

"Do I look 14? I'm 17." Kai stared. They stared at each other for a few moments. "Kid." She said at last. Kai threw his hands up in the air and walked away.

"Yes, Angela's adopted." Ray answered after a moment.

"Okay. Do I look 14 to you?" She tilted her head at him. He shook his head.

"15 at the very least. 14 is stretching it."

"Maybe I just _act_ 14." She muttered, then turned to stare into Angela's blue eyes. "Hello cutie!" Angela babbled at her. "I love you." Ray laughed.

"You're a baby person, huh?"

"I like kids." Lydia didn't take her eyes off Angela.

"Which is fortunate, since you have… 8 siblings?"

"Yeah. 1 older, 7 younger. It really is fortunate." Lydia gave Angela a squeeze, then set her back down on the floor. "There you go. So…" She leaned back and glanced around. "Your house is _considerably_ larger than Lloyd's."

"Oh, I imagine so." Ray sighed. "Poor Koko. She works so hard to provide for that kid."

"She's a good mom." Lydia nodded. "What's for dinner? I didn't eat lunch." The older man blinked.

"Uh, not sure. I just got back from work." Lydia glanced at his clothes. Business casual.

"Where do you work?"

"I'm an engineer." Lydia whistled.

"Wow. That is not what I would peg you as, at all." Ray chuckled.

"Really? Why not?"

"You're all… buff." She flexed her arms. He laughed out loud.

"Well, fair enough. But that's just the results of my personal goal to stay more in shape than my teenage son."

"It won't work!" Kai poked his head into the room. "My day job is fighting crime and busting sick moves. _Your_ day job is sitting at a desk eating chips." Ray just rolled his eyes.

"Kai, you clearly have no idea what being an engineer entails."

"Well, let me think." The red ninja placed a finger on his chin. "Algebra."

"Actually, both _my_ parents are engineers, and _they_ almost never use algebra." Lydia cut in.

"Really? Then why do we have to learn it?"

"My thoughts _exactly._ "

* * *

 **endings are the bane of my existance**

 **~FFF**


	8. she's really tired ok

**im going to be completely honest with you: this chapter has been written for about 2 weeks and I have not been able to post it simply because I do not have enough spoons**

 **Review replies (quick because I am in a rush)**

 **Aurro: same tho**

 **Ebony: their kids are good kids**

 **NinjagoGeek: Their kids are good kids**

 **Candy: SOMETIMES KIDS ARE JUST ADOPTED**

 **bookkeeper: Exactly! and probably.**

 **Spotted: I'm gonna be overrun.**

 **Purple: 👏👏👏**

 **Random: It's fun but overwhelming.**

 **Trickiest: 👍👍**

 **NOT proofread I am in a RUSH**

* * *

"So, explain to me why you were exhausted all day, but now can't go to sleep?" Nya rested her chin in her palm, holding her freshly-painted nails over the wick of a burning candle.

"Insomnia." Was Lydia's casual reply as she watched the match in her hand burn down towards her fingers.

"But why don't you have insomnia during the day?"

"I have no idea."

"Can the two of you maybe stop playing with fire?" Kai cut in. "That's my job." Lydia blew out the match.

"Bah." It was about 12:30 AM, and both Smith siblings were utterly confused by her ability to stay awake so late after acting so exhausted all day. They had offered her some tea to help her calm down, but she had politely declined. She couldn't stand tea.

"Do you do that a lot or something?" Kai asked as she lit another match.

"Oh yeah. I love fire. I have a bunch of matches in my room, and a bunch of candles that I light." Kai laughed.

"Alright then. If I ever need someone to stand in for me as fire ninja, I'll know who to call."

"Please don't. I would crash your mech and probably kill myself along with anyone unfortunate to be nearby." She replied with a straight face. Kai blinked.

"Ah. Well, it's not that hard."

"How long have you two been ninja?" They paused to think for a moment.

"About a year now." Nya answered at last. "We built those mechs ourselves, so I guess we're pretty familiar with how they run."

"So you're all freaking geniuses, then." Lydia nodded and blew out her match.

"Well, I mean…" They exchanged glances. "I guess?" Kai shrugged. "Wu helped a lot."

"Hmm." Lydia lit another match.

"So what's your life like?" Nya asked. "You live with 12 other people, you randomly get tossed into other dimensions…"

"Oh yeah." Lydia laughed. "Not very often. Just twice. Um… I'm an artist and an author. I draw and I write."

"Can I see one of your drawings?" Kai asked hopefully. Lydia shrugged and blew out her match.

"If you can get me some paper and a pencil. I don't have any on me."

"Okay." Kai hopped up from his bed, hurrying over to a desk and grabbing a stack of paper and a pencil. "Here." He handed it to her, and she nodded in thanks, setting down her box of matches and starting to doodle a Morro. The two other teens were quiet as she scribbled on the paper, then held up the drawing. "This is my boyfriend, Morro." Kai looked it up and down, then nodded.

"That's pretty good." He said approvingly. Lydia blushed.

"Thanks."

"What's he like?" Nya wiggled her eyebrows at her. "Your boyfriend, I mean."

"Ah, he's the best." Lydia grinned. "Um, he and I got off to a rocky start, considering I kidnapped him and then he kidnapped me, and he started off as a jerk, but…" She trailed off at the sight of them both gaping at her. "Do you want the whole story?"

"Yeah." Kai nodded.

"It's a long one." She warned.

"Whatever."

"Okay, you brought this upon yourself." She took a deep breath, then began. "So, for background, most of this takes place in basically an alternate Ninjago. So there's alternate versions of all of you."

"Wait, _what?_ " Nya's jaw dropped.

"We're going to be up for a looooooooong time."

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

They ended up being awake until 3 AM.

"Lydia, you know this is your own fault." Maya scolded her gently as Lydia sat at the table with her face pressed against the surface.

"Wake me up tomorrow." Was her half-asleep response. Kai leaned over her and poked her head.

"But Lydia, who's going to punch people who are mean to Lloyd if you don't show up?" Lydia was motionless for a few moments, then finally sighed and raised her head.

"Alright, you got me."

"Kai, you're a terrible influence." Maya shook a finger at him.

"Hey, you raised me." Kai shot back as Lydia dutifully began to eat the food Maya had very kindly prepared for her.

"I like to think you got your violent streak from your father." Was his mother's snarky response.

"I resent that." Ray yelled from the next room.

"You guys are _hilarious_." Lydia remarked. "You just. You've got great banter."

"I haven't said a word." Nya tried to defend herself between bites of toast.

"Which is very disappointing." Lydia assured her.

"Oh shut up."

The next ten minutes went about in this manner, then Kai and Nya hustled Lydia off to the bus. She somehow managed to stay awake during the drive, and they met up with the others in front of the school.

"Hey Lydia!" Cole called cheerfully as soon as she came within earshot. "You're even more hardcore than I initially thought." He told her as he gave her a clap on the back. Lydia blinked.

"Huh?"

"You know. You _died_ , beat an entire, uh, dimension? You're dating some _warlord_ or something…" Lydia swiveled to look at Kai and Nya.

"Did you- did you tell them the whole story?"

"Yeah." Kai shrugged. "I figured if you were okay, with us two knowing, you were okay with the whole group knowing.

"I mean- _technically_ …" She stole a glance at Lloyd. She imagined he might be _slightly_ jealous of his double, who had… a loving dad. And stuff. Plus, the fact that the other Lloyd had a crush on her was a subject she wanted to keep as discreet as possible.

"Are you really dating a warlord, though?" Jay interrupted her thoughts.

"Uh, not exactly. Ex-warlord, I guess." She let out a nervous laugh. "And yeah, I died too. And now that dimension queen is one of my best friends." Lloyd shook his head.

"And I thought _our_ lives were weird. Come on, we don't wanna be late to class."

"I wouldn't mind being late." Lydia muttered, but followed regardless. With any luck, Garmadon would attack today like he was supposed to.

* * *

 **get with the program garmadon**

 **I have another chapter completely written and another half written, so, expect another update... soon?**

 **~FFF**


	9. PE

**daily reminder that I have not gone to school, I don't know how school works, and I am an idiot**

 **ravioli replies:**

 **NinjagoGeek: Mega gonna get it, trust me.**

 **Bookkeeper: Only bad things**

 **Ebony: it was YOU**

 **FemaleGeek: Spoons. And aww, thank you :'D**

 **Spottedfrost: Thank you! :'D**

 **RandomDragon: ;) Yeah, they mentioned that in teasers but it really wasn't a factor in the movie.**

 **Candy: ;)**

 **short but fairly interesting chapter**

* * *

"So, I'm gonna assume you don't have any gym clothes." Lloyd looked Lydia up and down as they headed towards what was probably the gym. Lydia snorted.

"I only have one set of clothes _total_. I've been wearing these clothes for… three days." Lloyd looked at her again.

"…true. I bet my mom has some clothes you could borrow."

"I would really appreciate that."

"So, uh, you'll have to gym in those clothes." He gestured to her, then pointed to a door. "That's the gym. The girls' locker room is over there, but since you don't have anything to change into you can just go straight in."

"Cool." Lloyd broke off towards the boys' locker room, and Lydia let herself into the gym.

It looked a lot like what she imagined a school gym would look like, which was 1. Big, 2. Pretty empty, and 3. Had a couple of basketball hoops. So, a lot like the one at her church. There was one guy, probably the coach/teacher dude, flipping through the pages on a clipboard and muttering to himself. After a moment, he spotted her and yelled,

"Hey! Are you supposed to be in here?"

"Yeah. I'm part of the next class. I just, uh, don't have a gym… uniform." He blinked.

"…Alright. You're new, then?"

"Yeah. Exchange student." She fell back on her old lie.

"I see." He pointed to the wall. "Stand there and wait for the others."

"Okay." She ambled over to the wall and leaned against it. How long does it take 20 teenagers to change?

About 5 minutes, apparently, because it was that long before they all trickled into the room, lining up against the wall. Apparently 'gym uniform' meant a white tank top and shots.

"Alright," Coach Dude yelled as soon as everyone had showed up. "Today's schedule is a round of dodgeball, then thirty laps around the track outside." Okay, so she was going to die. "Jonathan, Ezekiel, you're team captains, pick your teams." She watched as two tall, athletic-looking boys – the gender bias here was just sad – stepped away from the rest of the class and began to pick their teams.

Needless to say, she and Lloyd were picked last. On her part, this was possibly because she death-glared anyone (except Lloyd) who looked at her. She was, unfortunately, placed on the opposite team as Lloyd, which made sense, since they alternated picks, but was disappointing.

Coach Dude rattled off the rules, which fortunately were the ones she was used to – standard, then? – and the game began.

Lydia liked to think she was a halfway decent dodgeball player. She really wasn't. Her usual strategy was to pick up a ball and hand it to someone better at throwing than her. However, not only did she not know who the best players were, but she despised them all. So, she changed her strategy to using her teammates as human shields whenever possible and hurling the ball at the enemy team as hard as she could whenever she got the chance.

For about 5 minutes, it worked pretty well. She could see Lloyd struggling on the other team, but he could at least throw a little bit now. If nothing else, her strategy of all force and no aim meant no one could catch her throws.

About 6 or 7 minutes into the game, a dodgeball whizzed past her head, and her late reaction of reeling backwards made her knock into someone behind her. As she hurriedly moved to correct herself, a very annoyed, and very _familiar_ voice from behind her snapped,

"Hey, watch it!" Immediately, she spun around to face him, and her jaw dropped.

It was Morro.

He looked different, but his voice and face were unmistakable. His hair was down to his mid-back and in a ponytail, like hers, and the long, bright green streak in his hair was probably fake. She stared at him for a good ten seconds, her mouth hanging open, before a ball nailed her in the side of the head and she fell over.

"You're out!" A player on the other team crowed triumphantly. Eyes still wide open and a blank expression on her face, Lydia stood up, walked off the court, and sat down in the corner of the room, placing her head in her hands.

"Ah, gosh. Heck. Goodness." She muttered to herself. "There's a Morro here. Oh _no,_ I'm legally required to try and befriend him, but he probably hates Lloyd like everyone else and _heck_ , how am I even supposed to _start_ with him, ohhhhh gosh. Heck."

"Hey, you! Get back over here!" Coach Dude yelled. She ignored him. "Hey!" Ignore. After a minute, he walked over to yell at her closer, and as soon as he got close enough she snapped,

"Can you be quiet? I'm trying to have an existential crisis." He blinked, then glared.

"And _I'm_ trying to coach P.E. Get up and stand in line, or you're going to the Principal's office, young lady."

"That'll be tough, considering I don't know where that is. And your threats have no effect on me." He lifted his arm and pointed to the door.

"Get out."

"Whatever you say, Coach Dude." She hopped to her feet, blew the students staring at her a kiss, and sauntered out of the room.

 _Now_ she could agonize over the other Morro in peace.

* * *

 **so yeah**

 **~FFF**


	10. Stress

**So I have motivation to post these now apparently**

 **stromboli replies:**

 **Ebony: Of course there are. there are multiple lloyds.**

 **NinjagoGeek: Well I wouldn't say I'm _terrible..._**

 **RandomDragon: Better than a lot of things tbh.**

 **Bookkeeper: It only gets worse**

 **Arianna: But is he?**

 **I even proofread this one, guys. I do so much for you.**

* * *

"You _lost_ Lydia?!" Lloyd thundered. Morro flinched.

"I did not _lose_ her. I woke up one morning and she was gone."

"Maybe you should have kept better track of _your_ girlfriend!"

"You, Lloyd, of all people, are not who I would expect to be encouraging me to sleep with Lydia." Lloyd's face flushed bright red.

"That's not- I didn't- I didn't mean-"

"Can you two finish up your obligatory fight over Lydia?" Nya interrupted crossly. Next to her, Karen gave them a firm nod.

After letting the appropriate people know, Morro and Karen had taken the Realm Crystal and headed straight to Ninjago. It had taken them a little while to find the Bounty, but, once they had, they had skipped the pleasantries and went straight to discussing the matter at hand – Lydia's disappearance.

"We're not fighting over Lydia. What would the point of that be?" Lloyd muttered crossly, but stepped out of the doorway into the bridge to let Morro through.

"So what do you know?" Nya asked as the group sat down, the rest of the ninja clustering anxiously around the couch.

"Not much." Morro admitted. "She was there one night, then gone in the morning. Karen normally sleeps in her room, on the upper bunk, but was up late last night and passed out in the living room, so she missed it if anything happened. Nothing's obviously out of place, there's no sign of forced entry, but there's no sign of her leaving voluntarily either, her purse and wallet are still there." The wind master took a deep breath. "And she didn't take the Realm Crystal somewhere, because we have it." He held the shimmering gemstone up. "We thought maybe she was… transported here, somehow."

"Well, maybe she has. We wouldn't necessarily know." Cole pointed out. "She could be lost somewhere."

"She could be wandering in Hiroshi's Labyrinth, or struggling to stay afloat in the middle of the ocean, or lost in the Caves of Despair, or- or-" Jay grew progressively more upset as he rattled off situations, and Nya clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Think, guys. If Lydia was here, she would have probably have gotten here the same way as last time. Which was…" Morro's face darkened.

" _Mega._ "

"Exactly." Nya nodded. "I think it's time we pay a visit to Cloud Kingdom."

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"What happened in P.E. earlier?" Were the first words out of Lloyd's mouth when Lydia bumped into him in the hall. "You got coach all mad at you, and if he brings it up to the principal they might find out you're not really enrolled here, and you could get kicked out, or _arrested_ , or, or-" Worry was etched all over his face, and Lydia hastened to reassure him.

"It'll be fine, trust me. I'm a very convincing liar when I need to be." He bit his lip.

"That's… not really that comforting. But what happened? You just kinda… froze." Lydia laughed nervously, glancing back and forth at the other students in the hall.

"Let's talk about it at lunch, okay? There there's at least a vague semblance of privacy." Lloyd frowned, but sighed and nodded.

"Okay. We have math before lunch, come on." She made a face as he started to walk off.

"Ew. Math."

"I know, but at least we share it with Kai and Nya." She sighed.

"Better than nothing, I guess."

One excruciating class later, the ninja + Lydia met up in the cafeteria. Lloyd had already spread the story of her odd behavior during dodgeball to all the others via his phone, so, as soon as they were all seated at their table, all 6 pairs of eyes were trained on her.

"Arright, so, uh, y'all know about my boyfriend, the warlord, right?" Nodding. "Apparently his dimensional-double goes to your school." Lloyd snapped his fingers.

"I was afraid of that. I've known Morro since 2nd grade, and when you mentioned his name I was afraid it was the same one. After you explained the whole other-timelines thing, it kinda fell into place."

"Wait, _that's_ your boyfriend?" Kai pointed across the room towards the Goth™ table, where high-school AU Morro was sitting with some other emo kids. "What do you see in him?"

"No! Well, not _that_ one, anyway. He's different." Lydia played with her hair nervously, staring down at her tray of unappetizing food. "He's not like him at all. I don't think. I don't know this one very well. But my Morro is way less edgy. Oh gosh." She cupped her chin in her hands, then quickly raised her head as she realized that in that position she could smell her food. "This is _terrible_."

"It's okay." Lloyd tried to reassure her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't even know he existed until today, you're not gonna run into him often."

"Ugh, but I _want_ to. I'm so curious. I didn't know he existed here, I wanna know _all_ about him." She sighed. "But, he probably hates me already."

"You poor thing." Nya patted her hand sympathetically. "You could stalk him obsessively instead." Lydia cracked a weak grin.

"Yeah, that sounds like a better idea."

Fortunately, Morro didn't seem to notice her staring at him, and lunch went fairly smoothly. Zane won the daily Lydia raffle, which he was overjoyed about, and informed her that "Father would pick them up at 3:35 PM." That did make her day a little better, she was really curious to see what Zane's family was like.

The rest of the day was, as usual, boring as all-get-out. Which meant Garmadon didn't attack. Which was bad. It was just about time to start panicking.

Finally, 3:35 came, and Zane escorted her outside to where a very-expensive looking car was waiting. He opened the backseat door and let her get in – he was _very_ gentlemanly – before getting in next to her.

The backseat was very spacious, probably a limousine? And there was an older man with glasses sitting on the seat facing them. He gave her a warm smile as she looked around the interior of the car in awe.

"Hello, you must be Lydia." He offered her a hand, and she shook it, nodding. "I am Doctor Julien. I am Zane's 'father', per se. I'm so happy that he's found a new friend in you." Though overwhelmed and nervous, she couldn't help but return his smile.

"Yeah. I'm kinda new to this school-" Obviously, you moron "But it's already obvious that certain people are shunned while others are lifted up." Dr. Julien nodded sadly.

"As it is in many high schools, unfortunately." Turning his attention to Zane, he asked, "What did you do today in school, Zane?" The android immediately perked up.

"I scored multiple points in Dodge Ball, and I got a perfect score on my history pop quiz!"

"Of course you did! You're brilliant." The tinkerer praised. "What about you, Miss Lydia? How are you doing academically?"

"I'm not… sure." She answered honestly. "But I don't think very well."

"Perhaps Zane can help you." Julien suggested.

"Of course! Though I am a typical teen, I recognize the importance of education and get straight As!" Zane said proudly. Lydia giggled.

"Yeah. I'd like that."

* * *

 **It only gets worse**

 **~FFF**


	11. one single moment of peace

**soooo funny story about this chapter, it's actually been fully written for at least a week. But I thought the ending was stupid and couldn't think of a better one so it just sat. there. eventually I decided I didn't want to bother writing any more so here this is all you get**

 **ravioli:**

 **NinjagoGeek4Ever: She'd better.**

 **Spotted: amazing! thank you**

 **Trickiest one: Nya gets me.**

 **Ebony: No it doesn't. I have tons of salt, and I'm still aliv- *ack***

 **Purple Master: Glad you liked it!**

 **RandomDragon: probably fine**

 **JustAFemaleGeek: There are a lot of doubles. Two Lloyds, two Nyas, two Kais... etc.**

 **Bookkeeper: By popular demand...**

* * *

Lydia had never been in such a fancy place in her entire life.

Zane and his dad's limo (which seemed to be self-driving?) had taken them to a huge skyscraper in the middle of the city, and then they went up to the very top – the penthouse. The inside was decorated with a mixture of elegant and modern furniture, and huge windows on nearly every wall gave one a wonderful view of the city. Lydia couldn't help thinking about Lloyd and his mom in their tiny apartment.

"Welcome home, Doctor Julien. Zane." A female voice spoke as they entered the main room. Lydia leaned around Zane to see a pretty android girl, wearing purple with white skin and silver hair. P.I.X.A.L. "I see you have brought back a guest. Welcome…" She stepped forward, and a blue beam from her eyes swept Lydia from head to toe. "I apologize. You are not on file."

"I'm from… a long way away. I'm Lydia." She wasn't sure exactly how much Zane had told his dad.

"A very long way, if what Zane told me is any indication." Julien nodded. Ah.

"Greetings, Lydia. I am P.I.X.A.L., the Primary Interactive X-ternal Assistant Life-form. Please, take a seat."

"Miss Lydia will be spending the night with us tonight, P.I.X.A.L." Julien informed her as Lydia timidly sat down on one of the fancy couches. "Please prepare a guest room for her." Pixal nodded and walked away. "P.I.X.A.L. is on loan from Cyrus Borg, the genius responsible for most of our technological advancement in the past 30 years. I work directly under him." He sat down on the seat opposite her, pushing his glasses up his nose with a smile. "Zane is a project that the two of us collaborate on, but P.I.X.A.L. is all his work, and another project, Echo, is all mine." Immediately, Lydia perked up.

"'Echo'?"

"Yes. A project not to imitate a teenager, like Zane, but that of a younger child. Would you like to see?" Lydia nodded, and the tinkerer stood, leading her out of the room and into a futuristic, lab-like room. Sitting down at a computer desk, Julian pulled up an application and opened it.

"Echo doesn't have a body yet," He explained as the program loaded. "Currently his A.I. is connected to an avatar in a virtual world I built for him." She nodded as the app opened, revealing a pretty, vector-art world that reminded her of Minecraft. In the center of the screen, a boy with deep bronze skin and brown hair knelt in the grass, entranced by a butterfly that stood on one of his fingers.

"Echo," Dr. Julien called, and the boy jumped and let out an 'aww' as the butterfly flew away.

"Hi dad." He called, sounding disappointed.

"I apologize for startling you, but I want you to meet my friend." Echo stood up, and the view focused on him as he peered out at them.

"Mom?" He asked after a few moments. Lydia immediately blushed.

"No, no." Unfortunately.

"I'm afraid not." Julien laughed. "She is Zane's friend from school."

"When do I get to go to school?"

"When you're older, dear."

"When's that?"

"Not now." Echo seemed… so much more _human_ than Zane. A stark contrast to how it was in canon Ninjago. Crap, when she got back she needed to have him rescued.

"Look what I tamed today!" Echo held up a poorly-rendered cat. "I gave her a fish. I'm going to name her Zane, after my brother." The tinkerer chuckled.

"That's a wonderful name. I'm going to go get back to work, you have fun." Echo nodded, and Julien closed the window. As he turned to her, Lydia slowly shook her head.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say that was a real little boy you had in there." Julien laughed.

"Isn't he lifelike? I'm very proud of him. He's learned a lot on his own." His smile saddened. "He and Zane… they're just robots, but I wish- I _feel_ they are more than that. That's why I put so much time and effort into them." The tinkerer shook his head. "I don't know I'm telling you this. I suppose I feel that you're wiser than me, having been to other dimensions." Lydia blinked.

"Ah, yeah." She wasn't.

"If I may ask a very selfish question…" He looked away, seeming embarrassed. "Have you met me in this other dimension?" Now it was Lydia's turn to look away.

"No. You died before I made it there." He turned back to her, shock reading clearly on his face.

"Wh-what? How-"

"Just of age." She added quickly. "With a magical resurrection thrown in the middle. You lived to probably at least 110." He looked pacified.

"Ah."

"And Zane, the Zane of that world, he's thriving. But he misses you." She continued, wanting him to feel better somehow. It didn't work. Sorrow crossed his face.

"I wish I could see him. What is he like?"

"Well, he's… he's not a lot like your Zane." She admitted. "He's kind and sweet, and he knows how to take charge when things go bad. And he's a wicked good fighter." Dr. Julien grinned at that.

"That's my boy."

"And he acts so human, you wouldn't even know he was a robot if he wasn't totally silver-colored. And he's quick-thinking, and smart, and did I mention he's sweet? I think I did." She rambled, and the tinkerer laughed.

"It sounds like you know him really well."

"I'd like to think so. But, he's really a wonderful person, and I'm really glad to call him my friend." Dr. Julien brushed his cheek with one hand.

"I'm so proud." Turning back to the monitor for a moment, he put his computer to sleep, then stood. "Come, Zane and P.I.X.A.L. must be waiting for us." Lydia debated bringing up that Zane and Pixal were dating in canon, but decided against it.

"Yeah." She followed him out back into the living room, where they found Zane and Pixal sitting on the couch and evidently in the middle of an animated discussion. When Pix spotted them, she scrambled to her feet, looking guilty.

"P.I.X.A.L., you know you are allowed to sit down." Julien reminded her, crossing the room towards her.

"Still, I apologize." Pixal bowed her head, and Lydia felt her heart break a little bit. Who hurt her. "May I get you something to drink, Miss Lydia?" The android girl asked, turning to her. Lydia 'hmm'ed.

"Coffee?"

"Of course. Would you like cream or sugar?"

"Lots of both, please." Lydia sat down cross-legged on the floor. Dr. Julien sighed.

"Very well." Pixal left the room, and Zane spoke up.

"P.I.X.A.L. and I were discussing the alarming drop in the tree-frog population on the outskirts of Ninjago City!" Lydia nearly laughed out loud. Seems about right.

* * *

 **just do me a favor and pretend the ending is better than it actually is**

 **~FFF**

 **P.S. I apologize in advance for next chapter**


	12. I'll fight the whole school' she said

**I'd like to apologize in advance, again, for this chapter**

 **radish:**

 **Rwbygirl: Now why would I do that (and how, he's safely stuck in minecraft)**

 **NinjagoGeek: Thank you and i'm glad everyone loved him so much LOL**

 **FemaleGeek: Very**

 **RandomDragon: Well I'm glad**

 **Cipher: haha**

 **Bookkeeper: I WOULD IF I COULD BUT I AM UNFORTUNATELY STUCK HERE**

 **I'd like to apologize one more time**

* * *

That night, Lydia got the most sleep she had gotten in months. Technology really was a wonderful thing.

Pixal had given her two pills and sent her to bed at 10 PM ("No you may not stay up late, you were complaining all day about being tired and now you're going to bed") and the room she was given was clean and comfortable and JUST the right temperature, and ten minutes after she took the pills she was out. The next morning, she woke up _early_ , on her _own_ , feeling _rested._ Absolutely amazing.

The next day at school she drew Cole in the daily raffle, and she went home with him and met his dad and 8-year-old sister. He was very sweet and she had a good time, and slept well that night too. She couldn't believe Pixal singlehandedly fixed her sleep schedule in one night.

The next day was uneventful, and she went home with Jay, considering he was the only one left. Despite the fact that he had seemed distrustful of her first, they got along well, and his parents, Ed and Edna, absolutely loved her. Oddly enough, though, they seemed to think he had a crush on her, which was weird since he lowkey gushed over Nya at every opportunity. Regardless, the night went well, and she started over with Lloyd the next day.

Her life settled into an almost comfortable routine. Koko and Maya donated some clothes and a backpack to her, which she used to carry around her few belongings (and some rocks to throw at bullies). Dr. Julien even gave her a little money (which was actually a lot for her), which she kept on her in case of an emergency. She missed Morro and her family, and the fact that Garmadon had never attacked and she had done something to mess everything up loomed in the back of her mind, but everyone that mattered was nice to her and she actually was doing pretty okay. She kinda liked it here.

The only bad factor was the bullies.

Rather than toning down their attacks when she harassed them for being mean to Lloyd, they got worse, and they started including her and Lloyd's other friends in their taunts as well. They usually didn't come within 15 feet of her, but they had taken to taunting and yelling at them from across the room whenever there weren't any adults around. Hence the rocks for throwing. They still scattered when she got close, though, which was a good sign.

Until one, very bad, day.

"Doesn't carrying all that get kinda heavy?" Nya asked as Lydia pitched a good-sized chunk of gravel across the room and watched it land in a bully's drink.

"Nah. Books are way worse." Lydia zipped her bag shut and took another bite of her granola bar.

"I'm really surprised you haven't gotten in trouble yet for smuggling food into school yet." Cole raised an eyebrow at her.

"Nah, they don't actually care. It's just another student they don't have to feed." Lydia took another bite, then the bell rang, and the cafeteria began to empty out into the halls. "I gotta put something in my locker." She announced as the ninja began to clean up their stuff. "I'll see you in History in a few minutes, Lloyd." The blond nodded as she slung her backpack over her shoulders and headed off towards the hall. She had complained to low-ranking faculty until they assigned her a locker, and now she used it to store extra clothes and some extra rocks for emergencies.

Humming, Lydia turned into an empty hallway, opening up her locker and sticking her hat in it. Koko had given her a really cute beanie, among other things, but it was currently summer and she didn't need to wear it in the heat, so she'd get it back out when the weather started to turn cold.

When she closed her locker and turned around, there were three boys blocking her path.

Immediately, she took a step back, lifting her arms to shield her body. Those three were some of the leaders of Lloyd's bullies, and all three were taller and stronger than her. She didn't know what they wanted with her, but if had something to do with her being outnumbered and alone. Nothing good.

"Hey *****, can we talk?" One stepped forward. Don't show fear.

"Aren't you boys supposed to be in class?" She lowered her arms to cross them over her chest. Could she outrun them? Not with her backpack on, but it was currently on the floor next to her. Maybe she could run and lose them by ducking into an empty room, then go back and pick it up on her way to class.

"Yeah, so are you. But we've got some things to take care of." The second boy slammed his fist into his palm.

Lydia turned and bolted.

She barely got around the first corner before a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her back, and the owner of the arm slammed her back into the wall. She aimed a kick between his legs, but he blocked it with his knee and backhanded her across the face. That hurt. Raising her free arm, she punched him in the throat, and even though it was a poor angle and very weak it still made him loosen his grip. She slipped away from him, but at this point his cronies had caught up and one grabbed her by the forearms, yanking her close as she tried to make a run for it again.

"Hey guys." She tore her eyes away from her attacker to see the third boy opening a closet door and glancing over at her. The teen grabbing her nodded and started to drag her towards it. Terrible sign. Twisting her wrist free, Lydia spun around and smashed him across the face with her elbow. As he let out a choked yell, she broke free and ran as fast as her legs would take her.

Her heart was pounding with adrenaline, but somehow her mind was fairly calm. This felt so surreal. She had a lot of dreams about being chased. Maybe this _was_ a dream, but it wasn't likely. Her legs burning, her swollen cheek, the sound of three sets of tennis shoes slamming against the floor of the hall behind her, this was too real.

She wanted to yell for help, but she had no guarantee that anyone who heard her would be on her side or theirs. She didn't even know if they were still chasing her. She didn't dare turn around.

She turned a corner and slammed into someone.

Her momentum sent them both flying to the ground, and she heard a curse from whoever she had hit. Gasping out an apology, she scrambled to her feet and kept running. She was going to tire out really soon. She had to hide.

Skidding around another corner, she saw a closet door standing ajar and darted inside, hiding behind the door and gasping for breath. She heard running footsteps approach and slammed her hand over her mouth, forcing herself to take deep breaths. The footsteps slowed, and she heard voices. She held her breath. The footsteps passed by.

Then someone pushed on the door and it hit her. ****.

Lydia slammed the door shut, hitting someone as she did so, and she heard a yell as she pushed herself against it and held the knob to keep it from turning. It moved, but she held it tight.

"You can't hide in there forever!" One of the boys yelled. He was right. She couldn't. They were probably a lot stronger than her, they'd get the door open eventually. And there was no way out of this room, and there was no way she could get away from them once they were inside, and there was no way she could beat them in a fight. And something told her they wouldn't accept a peaceful surrender.

They could kill her.

Reaching out with her free hand, Lydia scrabbled on the wall for a lightswitch and found one, illuminating a tiny room with little she could use as a weapon. Something heavy hit the door and it shook. Their next plan was apparently to break the door down. She could feel tears starting to form behind her eyes.

"God, please." She whispered out loud. "Help me." There was no answer.

The door burst open.

As she stumbled forward, spinning around, the three boys stalked into the closet and slammed the door behind them. They looked even more pissed now. And now there was no escape. She was cornered.

"What do you want with me?" She snapped. Stalling? She didn't know what she was doing.

"We want you to be an example." The leader snapped back. He was the one who had first pinned her. The one she'd gotten a hit on had blood staining his face from where he'd undoubtedly gotten a nosebleed. Good. "I realize you're new here, but surely by now you've realized something: we don't associate with Lloyd Garmadon." She backed up until she hit the wall. This was a really bad feeling. "And we _definitely_ don't stand up for him. You've made it very clear from day one whose side you're on. We're here to teach you that you made the wrong choice." He punched her in the face.

Funny, that's supposed to be really bad for your hands, she thought dimly as she crumpled back against the wall. A foot connected with her side, and she choked back a cry. Every bit of her was screaming for her to _fight back_ , and she lashed out with her good hand, keeping her left tucked into her chest. Her hand met flesh, and she raked her nails down the leader's arm. He hit her again.

"You're not gonna- get away with this." She spat as she slid to the floor.

"And why not? Everyone hates you." The second boy taunted. "Even the teachers. They won't believe a word you say." Lydia lifted her head an inch, staring at one of the ceiling corners opposite her.

"They won't need to." She ground out. "That camera's getting it all on tape." Immediately, all three of them spun around to look, and Lydia staggered to her feet. After a moment of studying the empty corner, the ringleader turned back around.

"There's nothing the-" Halfway through his sentence, he was interrupted by an elbow slamming into his face.

It only went downhill from there.

* * *

 **yeah**

 **~FFF**


	13. that could have gone better

**I'd like to take a moment to apologize for last chapter**

 **radish?:**

 **NinjagoGeek: I am a skilled fighter except when I'm not.**

 **Ebony: You know you're right**

 **RandomDragon: :)**

 **PurpleMaster: You'll see**

 **Candy: don't worry**

 **Spottedfrost: I'm gonna start bringing a knife to school**

 **FemaleGeek: good**

 **vaguely proofread I didn't want to read it again**

* * *

Lydia had never received such a thorough beating in her life.

Well, really she'd never been beaten before at all. But, if she had, it would probably pale in comparison to this one.

She'd lost a tooth. She thought she might've swallowed it, but she wasn't sure. All she knew was there was a bleeding gap where he tooth had been, and it hurt. The rest of her hurt too. The only place that was bleeding was her mouth, she thought, but she was bruised and battered everywhere else. Except her left hand. She'd managed to protect that.

She was curled up in a ball in the corner of the dark closet, crying on and off. She couldn't get out, they'd jammed the door shut somehow, and the lightswitch was shattered. Jerks.

They'd left about… maybe 20 minutes ago. It was 3:46 now. School would be out soon. What if no one found her and let her out? She'd be trapped here all night, and longer. The thought made her cry more, but she hurt too much to get up again.

At 4:02, she heard footsteps. She opened her mouth to cry out for help, but her scream caught in her throat. What if it was the bullies back for another round? Heck, what if it was _anyone_ who hated her? They could easily do worse to her in her weakened state.

And _everyone_ hated her.

Regardless, the footsteps stopped outside the door and she heard a scraping sound – a chair being moved? – and the handle turned. Lifting a shaking hand, Lydia covered her tearstained face. She just wanted to go home. God, please let it be a teacher or janitor. Someone who didn't recognize her.

With these low standards in mind, Lydia was shocked when she opened her eyes to see Lloyd, falling to his knees beside her.

"Lydia," He gasped. "What in- how did- what _happened_ to you?!" She just pressed her face into her sleeves and cried. She was really, really glad Lloyd had found her. "How badly are you hurt? Do I need to call 911?" Lloyd asked, and Lydia peeked up to see him digging his phone out of his pocket. Lydia shook her head, choking out,

"'s fine. I'm okay."

"'Okay'? You're _not_ okay. You had me so worried, you never came to class and I found your backpack just lying in the hall, a-and…" He was dialing a number, and Lydia reached out her left hand to stop him.

"D-don't." She stammered. "I d-don't wanna go to a hospital. I just- just wanna go home with you. I don't t-trust them." Lloyd froze, then looked back at her.

"Don't- don't trust them? What _happened?_ " Lydia just hid her face in her knees again. "I- a-alright. I'm gonna text my mom. And the others, tell them I found you." Were they looking for her? She heard Lloyd tapping on his phone for a few minutes, then he shoved it back in his pocket. "How badly are you hurt? Can you walk?" She weighed her pain against wanting to get out of there.

"If I h-had to."

"You keep not answering my question. _How badly are you hurt?_ " Fresh tears sprung to her eyes.

"Pretty bad."

"Oh…" He scooted closer, gaze jumping from one bruise to the next. "Who did this to you?" He whispered.

"Three boys." She whispered back, fighting back tears. "Th-they found me by my locker and I ran away and they chased me and they cornered me in here a-and beat me up…" She stifled a sob. "I couldn't b-beat them on my own…"

"O-of course you couldn't!" Lloyd stammered. "There were three of them and one of you! Here, come here." She peeked up at him as he held out his hands towards her. "I can carry you if you can't walk." She blinked, then scooted towards him, and he carefully pulled her into his arms. Instead of letting him pick her up, though, she just wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, whispering,

"Not yet." He hesitated, then said,

"Okay." They were both quiet for a minute.

"I've n-never gotten beat up like that before…" She whispered into his shoulder. "Th-there was- there was always someone close t-to protect me b-before…"

"I'm really sorry. I should have gone after you when you didn't show up." She sniffled.

"Th-that's not fair, but I r-really wish you had…" She heard him tapping on his phone, then he placed his hands on her back. Neither of them said anything for a while.

Finally, she heard footsteps approach and stiffened, but Lloyd squeezed her a bit tighter as he assured her,

"That's just the others. I texted them and told them where we are." Oh yeah. A moment, later, he heard Nya let out a cry.

"Oh you poor thing!" She heard Nya run into the closet and skid to her knees next to her and Lloyd. "Oh no."

"I'm okay." Lydia whispered. "I'm fine."

"Oh honey, you're not okay at all." Nya fussed, smoothing her hair out of her face. When Lydia peeked up at her from behind Lloyd's shoulder, Nya sucked in a breath. "You've got a nasty black eye."

"N-not a shock." She dropped her head again. "I j-just wanna go home."

"Home?" Lloyd echoed. "You mean my apartment, or…"

"My real home." Lydia whispered miserably. "But I can't."

"I know." Lloyd lowered his head so his chin rested on her shoulder. "I'm sorry." Nya continued messing with her hair as the trio sat in silence, then Lydia heard Lloyd's phone buzz. He picked it up, then said, "My mom's coming to pick us up. Nya, you should find the others and go. You don't want to miss the bus." Nya pursed her lips, but complied, giving Lydia's shoulder a squeeze before standing and leaving the room. Closet. She and Lloyd sat in silence some more, and she could feel the pain start to fade. She needed to get some sleep.

Finally, his phone buzzed again.

"My mom's here." Lloyd reported. "She's waiting in front of the building." Carefully, he shifted, easing her back into the crook of his arm. "I'm gonna pick you up, okay?" She nodded, closing her eyes, and he scooped her up, carefully getting top his feet. This was a very familiar sensation.

She rested her head on his chest, and he carried her out of the closet and down the halls. Apparently everyone else had gone home. Good. She didn't want that bunch of idiots gawking at her.

They got out into the parking lot and she immediately heard Koko's voice.

"Those boys are _not_ going to get away with this." She sounded very serious. "I will talk to the teachers, the principal, the school board, and _anyone_ else related until those boys are punished."

"There's no point." Lydia mumbled, not opening her eyes. "I don't legally exist. It'd just mess everything up." Koko hesitated, then sighed.

"I'll pummel them myself if I have to. Lloyd, get her into the car, please." Lloyd eased her into the back of the car, sitting her up and helping her get her seatbelt on before buckling himself in next to her. Koko started the car, and Lydia eased her head onto Lloyd's shoulder, closing her aching eyes. Maybe when she woke up, she'd feel a little better.

* * *

 **the next day:**

 **Lloyd: lydia are you doing okay?**

 **Lydia: I'm going to #$* &ing school and punching everyone's lights out**

 **Lloyd, texting the group chat: lydia's feeling better**

 **~FFF**


	14. recovering sucks

**woot**

 **r:**

 **Rebelutionary: A few months ago I would have gotten salty at this review because I was still in denial and wanted to be a slytherin. But now I'm at peace with it.**

 **NinjagoGeek: It was a wing of the school that wasn't often used. There weren't really people walking through there.**

 **Trickiest: She's trying her best. And don't worry, those guys will get what's coming to them. Maybe. Possibly.**

 **Candy: NEXT CHAPTER**

 **RandomDragon: Eh.**

 **Bookkeeper: He's... around.**

 **Ms. Cipher: I'm glad it's accurate lol.**

 **Purple Master: Glad you like it xD**

 **JustAFemaleGeek: Oh me either. Not seriously, at least.**

 **Ebony: Maybe not tomorrow. But soon.**

 **Spotted: Unfortunately, no. Just normal tea.**

* * *

She shouldn't have gotten her hopes up.

Lydia lay in Lloyd's bed in he and his mom's apartment, apparently where she had been left after she fell asleep on the drive back. Her entire body was aching horribly, and protested loudly every time she moved. It reminded her of waking up after exerting herself too much, except like 10x worse, and every time she moved every inch of her started screaming. It made her feel for Lloyd, the other Lloyd, when he got beat up by her Morro. With a crowbar, no less. After a bit of thought, she determined that she probably wouldn't have survived that.

She couldn't tell what time it was. There was some ambient, midday-ish light coming in the windows behind her, and there was no clock within view. She could feel her watch on her arm, but didn't want to move her arm to look at it. So she lay on Lloyd's bed in silence, listening to the air conditioning.

After drifting off a couple times, she woke up to the sound of the door to the apartment opening. She heard footsteps for a couple minutes, then the door to the bedroom creaked open and Koko leaned inside.

"You awake, honey?" Lydia managed a single nod. "How're you feeling? Any better?"

"Worse." Lydia croaked, then coughed twice to clear her throat. "Um. Yeah, worse."

"Poor thing." Koko clicked her tongue. "I picked up some strong pain relievers on my way home, do you think that would help?"

"Probably a lot, yeah. Thanks." Lydia nodded again, and Koko disappeared for a moment before returning with a bottle of pills and a glass of water.

"When did you wake up?" She asked as she sat down beside the bed, beginning to study the side of the bottle. Lydia shrugged, then winced.

"My sense of the passage of time is not the best." She whispered. "But it's been a while."

"Really? I'm sorry we had to leave you here alone all day." Koko shook a couple of the pills out into her hand. "I would've taken the day off, but today is a really busy day for us. At least tomorrow is the weekend, so Lloyd will be home. Can you sit up?"

"Maybe." Slowly, painstakingly, Lydia eased herself into a sitting position. It hurt a LOT, but she had great pain tolerance, so she didn't let it show. Koko offered her the two pills and the glass of water, and Lydia choked them down. Her throat burned when she swallowed – why, she wasn't sure. She didn't remember being hit in the neck.

"Do you need something to eat?" Koko asked as she drained the rest of the glass. Water is good for you.

"No thank you." The teen whispered. "I don't think I can eat anything right now." Which was kinda alarming, since she hadn't eaten since… lunch yesterday. Over 24 hours ago.

She'd be fine.

"Alright, well, just yell if you need anything." Koko told her, then gathered up the pills and glass and left the room. Lydia eased herself back down onto the pillow, then closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep again. The more she slept, the sooner the healing process would be over.

Unfortunately, she was an insomniac. So she didn't get to sleep for about an hour.

The next time she awoke, it was dark.

She rolled over (carefully) and was about to go back to sleep when she realized there was a person in the room with her. Further investigation revealed that Lloyd was lying on the floor a few feet away from her bed, a pillow under his head and a thin blanket draped over him. Undoubtedly the couch was more comfortable, so why was he in here? To keep an eye on her? That was sweet of him. She went back to sleep.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"You awake?" Lydia opened one eyes at a voice.

"Huh… no?" She closed her eye again at the bright light. "Nope."

"That's too bad. The others wanted to see how you were doing." Her eye opened again, and she spotted a blond figure sitting beside her.

"What? Are they here?" She didn't see anyone else.

"Nope. Look." She opened her other eye, blinking in the bright sunlight streaming through the window behind her, and looked up to see Lloyd's phone screen aimed towards her, with five ninja crowded together in front of the camera. Nya waved.

"Oh. I get it. Hi." She started to move her arm to wave back, but gave up on that pretty quickly. "Can't really move. But hi guys."

"How are you doing?" Cole asked, his voice sounding slightly tinny through the phone's speaker. "Nya said you weren't doing well at all when she found you yesterday."

"Do I still look like a trainwreck?" Kai and Nya exchanged glances, and Zane nodded. "I feel like a trainwreck. Worse, in fact, than I did yesterday." She vaguely recalled waking up in the middle of the night and not being in much pain, but those meds Koko had given here must have worn off by now. "Don't worry, I heal quick. With any luck, I'll be back to school by Monday."

"Why would you _want_ to go back to school?" Jay raised an eyebrow, and Cole nodded in agreement.

"Why so I can pursue my education, of course." She said in an offended, posh accent, widening her eyes. "Nah. I wanna get back to school so I can find those guys and punch their lights out."

"No offense, but that didn't work too well last time." Lloyd cut in.

"Okay, fair. I want to get back to school so I can find those boys and _Kai_ can punch their lights out." Kai's face immediately lit up in a grin.

"I like this plan."

"Don't encourage her," Lloyd told them, but Cole was already grinning as well.

"I'm all for punching some teenagers. When do we start?"

"I like how you say that like you're not a teenager." Jay elbowed him.

"To be fair, I do the exact same thing." Lydia remarked.

"Yeah, but you're almost an adult. You're older than all of us."

"I guess." That was really weird, but true. "Lloyd, could you ask your mom if she has more of those pain meds?"

"Uh huh. Hang on." Lloyd hopped up and left the room, setting his phone on top of her before he went. None of them spoke for a moment, then Kai said,

"Hello?"

"I'm here." Lydia called. "I just can't move."

"Maybe you shouldn't be coming back to school on Monday."

"Well, we'll see how I feel then." Lloyd came back with the pills and some water, and helped her sit up before offering them to her. Lydia ignored the 'aww'ing from the phone as well as she could.

"So, wait, you're all in one place." She noted once she'd taken the pills. "Where y'all at?"

"We went out for lunch. We invited Lloyd, but he declined." Zane replied, speaking up for the first time.

"Someone's gotta keep you company." Lloyd shrugged, and Kai coughed.

"You mean keep an eye on her."

"That's just hurtful, Kai. How much trouble do you really think I can get in when I can't move?" She glared at the phone, which Lloyd lifted so Kai could see her death glare.

"Alright, alright, fair." Kai puts his hands up in surrender. Zane glanced away from the camera, then said something to the others that she couldn't make out.

"Our food's here." Nya repeated for them. "We gotta go. See you later, guys!"

"Bye." The ninja waved, then Lloyd ended the call.

"Should I leave you to sleep some more?" He asked as he slid his phone back in his pocket. Lydia shook her head.

"Nah, I've slept long enough. Could you help me get to the living room couch? It's not as boring as in here."

"Sure." He pulled the covers off of her, paused to frown at the bruises on her arms and legs, then scooped her up again. "You could watch some TV if you like."

"You have TV?" She turned to stare at him, eyes wide.

"Yeah, we do." He chuckled.

"I would absolutely love to."

* * *

 **I don't have TV at my house ok don't (a) me Candy**

 **~FFF**


	15. mega pls

**hey guys. sorry I haven't posted in (checks log) ...13 days, but I have an excuse! Candaru (who some of yall know is the light of my life) has been grounded for about a week and a half, and I've been _very_ busy moping over that lately.**

 **however! I successfully wrote three! full length! chapters! last night! So I now have another 4 chapters fully prepared to type in. expect frequent updates.**

 **review replies:**

 **NinjagoGeek: Lydia's fine. I, however, am sick. I've been sick for a week ew**

 **Purple Master: Lloyd would kick some butt.**

 **Ebony: I have no idea. Let's find out!**

 **Rebolutionary: NOOO DON'T DO THAT SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND**

 **SpottedFrost: 👀👀👀👀👀**

 **Ms Cipher: By breaking the law, of course!**

 **Bookkeeper: Garmadon's got something going on.**

* * *

"We need to talk to _Mega._ " Morro snapped, arms folded over his chest. "Mega. Brown hair, about 3-4 feet tall, wears a pink bow? Sometimes totally disrupts the fate of the universe?" The older woman twisted her fingers together, looking rather nervous about the 7 elemental masters and 1 former queen all glaring at her.

"I do know who you're talking about, but I'm afraid she's graduated from my class. You'll find her across the way there, in that building with the three spires." She pointed across the sky 'road' to another building. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to teach." She waved them away, then shut the door as they began to retreat.

"We'll find her, Morro." Nya tried to reassure him as the ex-warlord muttered curses under his breath. "It's not a huge Realm. She can't hide forever."

"Yeah, well, every minute we spend just _wandering_ around Cloud Kingdom is another second Lydia could be in danger." Morro grumbled, stalking towards the empty space which boats sailed back and forth across. "Karen, come on." Karen hurried up next to him as he first summoned his dragon, then helped her onto its' back before taking off and crossing the gap. As the ninja followed him over, he marched up to the building and knocked loudly on the door.

Whoever was inside took their sweet time answering, enough so that the ninja had caught up before an elderly man in a hooded robe opened the door.

"May I- may I help you?" He stammered, looking alarmed, which was probably the fault of Morro's death glare.

"We need to talk to a girl named Mega. Is she here?" Morro cut right to the chase.

"Yes- she's in class." The man frowned. "You cannot-"

"Thanks." Morro pushed past him and through the doorway, Karen trailing along behind him as the ninja began to do damage control.

"Excuse me," Another hooded man called. "We're in the middle of class. If you could-" Morro tuned him out, skimming the roomful of tween students. Most looked excited to see him and Karen, or at the interruption, anyway. One looked like she had just been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Mega.

"Hey Mega, can we talk?" Morro called, turning and striding towards her seat. The brunette's eyes flitted back and forth, as if looking for an escape route, but evidently she failed to find one, as she sighed and raised her hands in surrender.

"Sorry professor, I have to do something." She stood up and beckoned Morro and Karen towards a door on the other side of the room, and they followed her through it into a hallway. "So I guess you wanna know about Lydia." Mega guessed, her voice resigned.

"Oh, you bet we do." Karen made an angry sign at her. "And I don't think I have to tell you what'll happen to you if she's not _exactly_ how I left her."

"Yeah, no, I got it. So, um, it's kind of a long story."

"Summarize."

"Well, so I just moved up a grade, and last grade we had a final test. And the final was for us to drastically change someone's life without, like, seriously messing it up." She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "And, uh, I know Lydia is really good at just kinda going with the flow, so I kinda… sent her into another dimension." Morro stared.

"You. Sent my girlfriend. Into another dimension. For a _grade?!_ "

"I meant to put her right back!" Mega hastily continued. "But I didn't realize that once I graduated, I didn't have access to her scroll anymore. I have Ninjago scrolls now. I _can't_ bring her back." Morro pinched the bridge of his nose. "But I could… send you there?" Mega suggested. Morro blinked.

"Would we be able to get back?"

"If you have the Realm Crystal, which is I assume how you got here, yeah." Mega nodded. "You could just visualize Earth and make a portal back. Easy. Just find her and teleport her back." Morro glanced at Karen, considering this.

"Did we miss something?" Morro jumped at the voice behind him, glancing over his shoulder to see the ninja flooding out into the hallway.

"Mega sent Lydia into another dimension." Morro said flatly. "For a _grade_."

"And she knows how to get her back, right?" Nya lifted a hand to block Lloyd, whose hands were clenched into fists.

"She can send us there, and we can pick her up, but she can't just bring her _back_." He shot a nasty glance at Mega, who protested,

"There are very strict rules about what scrolls I'm allowed to access!"

"Whatever. Send us there. If that's what it takes to get Lydia back, so be it." Lloyd ordered.

"Wait a minute." Cole stopped him. "What about Ninjago? We have to leave some of us there to protect it."

"That's true." Lloyd amended. "Who wants to stay?" Kai raised his hand.

"I'll stay."

"Me too." Jay added.

"I'll stay to keep an eye on them." Nya dodged a gentle swing from Kai. "You five should be plenty enough to keep her safe, and the three of us should be able to, at the very least, keep any threats at bay until the other three come back."

"Alright." Lloyd nodded. "We'll have to send you three back now, because we're gonna need the Realm Crystal there." He lifted the Crystal in his hand and created a portal, but Kai put a hand on his shoulder and pulled him aside.

"Give us a minute." He told the others. Morro shrugged and turned back to Mega.

"Are you gonna send us there or what?" He asked, upon seeing that she hadn't moved. She shifted her weight again.

"I have to get permission first."

"Did you ask for permission before you sent Lydia off?" Cole snapped.

"Well- well no, but- this is a much bigger move! I could get in trouble!"

"Maybe you deserve to get in trouble."

"Ugh. Y'know what? Fine. I'll be right back." Mega stomped off down the hall, leaving the ninja & friends to glare after her. While she was gone, Kai and Lloyd finished talking, and Kai gave his little brother a quick squeeze before leading Nya and Jay into the portal and disappearing.

Mega was gone over a minute, and Morro was just about to go after her when she reappeared with an armload of scrolls.

"Here. Cole, Morro, Zane, Lloyd, Karen." She dumped them on the floor, then sat down and unrolled one, the thinnest one. She scribbled something in it, then, before their eyes, Karen vanished. "Karen." She announced as the others exclaimed in surprise, tossing the scroll aside and picking up the next. "Cole." He vanished as well. One by one, all the ninja were transported away, leaving only Morro. Mega unrolled his scroll, started to write, then stopped and looked up at him.

"You owe me for this, okay?"

" _Excuse_ me? I owe _you?_ " Morro let out a bark of laughter. "**** no."

"Listen. Without me? You'd be dead right now. Understand?" She jabbed a finger at him. "If I hadn't changed Lydia's destiny in the first place, you would have died like you were supposed to."

"Yeah? I'm not giving you any of the credit. You were _bored_. You messed with her life for a laugh, and then she _risked_ her life to save me." He took a threatening step closer. "You didn't save me. You're just a spoiled brat with more power than you deserve. Now send me to the other dimension, and be glad I don't throw you off a cloud and do it myself." Mega's jaw tightened, and she muttered something under her breath as she began to write again. "What was that?" He took another step your closer.

"I said, 'I did save your life. And if you're going to be ungrateful, you might find yourself losing it again'."

She finished the last mark on his scroll, and Cloud Kingdom vanished.

* * *

 **kind of awkward when an idiot 12 year old wants you dead.**

 **~FFF**


	16. Pillows & Frozen Pizza

**zz here you go**

* * *

"Oh my gosh. I can't look." Lydia pressed her hands over her face, scrunching down into the blanket. "What is he _doing_." Lloyd laughed.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lydia peeked up between her fingers as the final seconds ticked down on the screen. "Just. Yikes."

"They're just cooking." Lloyd looked at her, then back at the TV. What was currently playing was a cooking show called Time's Ticking, which basically had… the exact same premise as Chopped on Earth. And Lydia absolutely loved Chopped.

"Yeah, but blond dude waited WAY too long to get his cauliflower on the plate. He spent way too much time styling his potatoes or something dumb." Lydia let out a deep sigh. "I'm proud of redhead girl though. She really got her act together."

"She recovered well from _setting her food on fire_ in the first round." Lloyd agreed.

"Very well. I thought she wasn't gonna make it out of that." Lydia and Lloyd were sitting on the living room couch, the former buried in a mountain of pillows and blankets. Koko, apparently, owned a shocking amount of pillows for only having two beds, as she had donated like six of them for the sole purpose of keeping Lydia comfortable (which she was endlessly thankful for), as well as several fuzzy blankets. She was a little overheated, since it was summer, but mostly she was the right temperature, and with basically a mountain of Soft all around her, she had no reason to complain.

"Do you kids need something to eat?" Koko called from the kitchen. She had just gotten back from grocery shopping.

"Yes please," Lloyd called back, and Lydia glanced down at her stomach. Yeah, she should probably eat.

"I'm gonna heat up a frozen pizza, okay?" Koko began pressing buttons on the oven.

"That sounds awesome." Lydia started to turn and look at her, but froze when pain shot through her body and quickly turned back. She still wasn't remotely healed, and it sucked. Lloyd glanced over at her as she grimaced.

"You okay?"

"Overall? No. Currently? Sort of." She sank down into the pile of pillows with a sigh. "I wish I could just. Sleep. Until I've finished healing."

"Like a robot?" Lloyd suggested. "Just power down until you're repaired."

"Yeah, like that." Lydia cracked a smile, looking up at the ceiling. "Don't suppose you could arrange something like that, _Mega?_

"Should you maybe… not be taunting her?" Lloyd said slowly. "She might… make this worse to get back at you."

"Nahhhh, she wouldn't do that." Lydia glared at the ceiling. "She knows if she hurts me too bad, Morro's gonna kill her."

"I've noticed that usually when you talk about your boyfriend it's in reference to punching or killing someone." Lloyd remarked. "Is he especially violent, or is it just you?" Lydia laughed.

"Uh, both? We're kind of a violent pair." She snickered. "But, uh, my violence is more in theory, while his is more in reality."

"Ah." Lloyd nodded. "So, don't get on his bad side."

"Yes. Avoid that at all costs." Lydia shuddered. The other Lloyd had kinda failed at that. Lloyd nodded again, then turned back to the TV. The two watched the show until it went to ads, then Lydia twisted her upper body to face him.

"So… Lloyd, about your dad." The blond raised an eyebrow at her. "How… often does he usually attack? 'Cause I've noticed he hasn't. In like, weeks."

"Well, it depends." Lloyd shrugged. "Sometimes a couple, three days in a row. Sometimes not for weeks. I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet."

"Mmm." Lydia stared at the floor. Somehow she'd influenced when he'd next attack, and then, if he had his giant mech when he did, Lloyd might not be able to beat him. And he didn't even know about the Ultimate Weapon.

"I think I need to talk to Wu." She said at last. Lloyd blinked.

"Master Wu? Why?"

"I need to ask him something. He's wise, isn't he?" The blond nodded.

"Yeah, but what about?"

"I can't tell you." Lydia shook her head, looking at the TV screen. "Sorry."

"…okay." He didn't really sound mad, just a little confused. "I'll let him know you wanna see him. He's off on a trip right now, but I'll tell him the next time I see him."

"Okay." Lydia nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

 **zz there you are**

 **~FFF**


	17. timeskip so we get to interesting things

**candy here is your promised Morro**

* * *

"I think I would have preferred to walk to school." Lydia muttered, eyes fastened on the window even though her attention was on the 30-ish pairs of eyes on her.

"I don't think you'd make the trip." Lloyd raised an eyebrow from beside her.

"Well, then maybe I'd pass out on the street. Then at least I'd be an inconvenience to someone, rather than just part of a circus sideshow." It was Wednesday. Lydia had not, in fact, healed enough to go back to school on Monday, so she was coming back two days later. She still felt kinda like crap, but she wanted to see what the latest nonsense at school was. Plus, sitting in Lloyd's apartment watching TV all alone got really, really boring after a while.

"Fair enough, I guess." The bus pulled up in front of the school building, and the pair waited for the rest of the students to get off before exiting the vehicle. No one obviously treated her any differently than normal, she got the typical treatment of mostly being ignore with a couple of nasty looks/insults thrown her way. The only one who treated her any differently was Lloyd, who kept a hand on her arm to steady her as they entered the building.

"Hey." A hand touched her shoulder before she had taken two steps into the building, and she swiveled around to see who was talking to her.

It was Morro.

This world's Morro, to be specific. He was wearing a black hoodie with the hood down, and had his hair swept back in a loose ponytail. He had his phone in his hand, but he wasn't looking at it- he was looking straight at her. She swallowed.

"Uh. Hi."

"I'm Morro." He offered her a hand and she accepted it, noting Lloyd edging around closer to Morro.

"Hi. I'm Lydia." She replied automatically. He nodded.

"I know your name."

"I figured." He let go of her hand and she used it to brush her bangs out of her face. "So, um… I wanted to apologize." He blurted out, looking at his feet. She blinked.

"For what?"

"Not helping." What? "When you knocked me down in the hall the other day, I saw those boys chasing you, and-"

"Wait, I'm sorry." She interrupted. "Wait. That was _you?"_ He nodded, glancing up at her, and she felt her face flush red. "Oh."

"I had a pretty good idea of what they wanted with you, and I heard, um, yelling…" He continued. "But I… didn't want to get involved, so I just ignored it. And then you didn't come back, and… I was… worried." His voice lowered to a mutter. "So I wanted to say sorry. And ask if you were okay."

"Oh." She said. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Lloyd shook his head.

"She's not 'fine'. She always says that. She's not."

"Well I'm _alive_." Lydia stuck her tongue out at him. "That's a big step up from dead." Morro coughed.

"But you'll _be_ fine, right?" Lydia nodded, and when Morro turned to Lloyd, he nodded too. "That's good. I'm glad. And if those boys mess with you again, I won't be such a coward, okay?" He offered her a small smile, then walked away, tapping on his phone screen. Lydia's knees went weak, and Lloyd scrambled to catch her as she sunk to the floor.

"AU Morro _likes_ me." She whispered as Lloyd opened his mouth to ask if she was okay. Sighing, the blond rolled his eyes and pulled her upright.

"Come on, dork, let's go meet up with the others."

"I'm not a dork." She protested. "Oh, nevermind, I am a dork."

"Yeah."

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"Tell me what's been troubling you." Sensei Wu sat down on a crate in the warehouse, and Lydia sat down cross-legged on the floor a couple feet away.

"Well, um, I don't know how much the ninja have told you." She began. A week had passed since her reentry to high school, and Wu had just returned from his trip. Lloyd had dropped her off here to talk to him, and had promised to pick her up in an hour to walk her back to his apartment. "About me."

"Lloyd has told me much about your past." Wu told her. "About your adventures in other worlds."

"Did he tell you that I know this world's future?" Wu nodded. "Well, I… messed it up." She coughed. "Big time."

"How so?"

"Well, uh, I showed up at Lloyd's school. I befriended him. He was supposed to have a rotten day, then the next day would make a very reckless decision and unleash a monster on the city. But it- it turns out better than it started." She got to her feet and started to pace. She was still a little sore from her beating, but had mostly healed by now. "And mostly for him. After the events he was supposed to set in motion had finished, his life got… significantly better. And. I stopped that to spare him some temporary pain. And also kind of out of spite.

"Point being, I ruined things, and I don't- I don't know if I can fix it. Or if I _should_ fix it. Maybe this is better." She sat on the floor again, pressing her hands to her face. "I just. You're really wise, right? Can you help me figure out what I'm supposed to do?" Sensei didn't speak for a few, long moments.

"You care about Lloyd quite a bit, don't you?" He said at last.

"Yeah. He's a kid." Her voice lowered. "And he's gone through a lot. Way more than a kid like him should have to." Wu nodded.

"Are the events you spoke of, and the outcome that comes as a result of it, are they better for the whole city, or just Lloyd?" Lydia frowned.

"For… for everyone, I think. I don't know. It's like… five Garmadon attacks at once, but then there are no more attacks ever again."

"If it is better, could you somehow replicate the act that set it in motion?" Lydia looked out the window at Wu's ship, then at the tallest skyscraper.

"…mmmmaaaaaaaybe." She said slowly. "But I might not… survive it." Sensei nodded.

"I see."

"Although… Mega isn't gonna let me die." Lydia mused, rubbing her chin. "Morro would murder her. Or worse." She turned back to the window. "Yeah. I can pull this off."

"Good luck," Wu offered.

"Thanks, I'll need it." She stood up and started towards the door, then stopped. "I need you to do something."

"And what's that, child?"

"I need you to not stop me." Wu's face hardened a bit, but he nodded.

"Very well. I will trust you to make the right decision."

"Thanks." She wished she had that kind of faith in herself. "Thanks for talking to me."

"Of course." Sensei nodded. "Lloyd is waiting outside for you."

"He is?" Lydia glanced at her watch. "But it hasn't been an hour."

"He had nowhere to go." Wu shrugged, and waved her towards the door. She headed over to the small door in the warehouse's far wall and opened it, and, sure enough, Lloyd was just outside, playing around with his phone. When the door opened, he looked up and smiled at her.

"You're done early." He commented.

"Yeah, well, we didn't have as much to talk about as I thought." She took his offered hand and they started down the sidewalk back towards his house.

She knew what she had to do. And it wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

 **there it was**

 **~FFF**


	18. oh no its GARMADON

**I refuse to proofread this or write review replies. here you go you gremlins some content**

* * *

"Behold!" Lydia lifted her drawing of a chicken. "A man." Cole and his younger sister, Miah, just stared at her.

"I don't get it." Cole said at last.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't." On her own paper, Miah scribbled a misshapen blob, then held it up and exclaimed,

"A hand!" Lydia laughed and gave her a high five.

"Exactly." A week had passed since Lydia's conversation with Wu, in which Garmadon still hadn't attacked. Which was really odd. She was starting to think he'd given up. Which would be preferable, sort of. Not really.

She was back to her old routine of bouncing from house to house. She and Cole had just gotten home from school, and Miah had immediately dragged them into her room to draw with her. She was a budding artist, taking after Cole, who drew waaaaayyyy better than Lydia did. He was really encouraging of her art, though, he said her drawings were really cute.

"Don't you be a bad influence on my little sister." Cole elbowed her gently. "I've seen what you've done to Zane." Lydia blinked.

"You lost me."

"He's started saying things like "four twenty blaze it", and "yeet", and "F" out of nowhere." Lydia burst into giggles.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with that." She told him with a straight face. "I can't believe you would accuse me of such a thing."

The ground shook.

Immediately, Cole was on his feet, rushing to the window as alarms began to blare.

"Garmadon." He growled. "Lydia, stay here with Miah. I need to deal with this." Lydia sat frozen as he headed for the door, then snapped out of it just in time to shout,

"Wait!" Cole stopped, turning back as she scrambled to her feet. "I have to come with you." The earth ninja blinked.

"Wh- why?"

"I can't- I can't tell you." She twisted her hands together. "I just have to. Can you trust me?" Cole hesitated, glancing at his baby sister.

"Alright." He said at last. "Miah, be a good girl while I'm gone, okay?" Miah nodded and began doodling with a blue marker. "C'mon." Lydia followed him out, down the stairs, and onto the driveway.

"It's not far to the warehouse." He called, jogging fairly slowly so she could keep up. "Just a couple miles. Think you can run that far?"

"Oh, y'know, probably." She made an 'ok' sign with her hand.

"Good." Despite having terrible stamina, she did manage to make it to the warehouse, although she lay down on the floor and didn't move for a while after they arrived. She and Cole were the first ones there, followed by Kai and Nya, then Zane, then Jay, then finally Lloyd.

"Sorry I'm late, guys!" He called as he ran into the building. "I had to get out without my mom noticing." His gaze fell on Lydia, and he frowned. "Lydia? What are you doing here?"

"She insisted on coming along." Cole told him. "She won't tell me why."

"Well, whatever, just stay out of trouble, okay?" Lloyd was already taking off his jacket, revealing the bright green gi underneath it. "Come on, guys, we're already late." Lydia watched as the ninja went through their pre-battle ritual and left, and she waited a couple minutes longer so they wouldn't see her leave. Then, quietly, she slipped out the side door and headed for the Destiny's Bounty.

There was no fighting here yet, and also no sign of Wu, so she slipped into the cabin. It was totally crammed with weapons, but the Ultimate Weapon stood out from them all – since it didn't look like a weapon, and looked like a giant keychain flashlight.

"Cool, it's not very heavy." She remarked as she pulled it down from its' perch on the wall. "Now I just have to get it all the way to the top of the tallest building without being crushed, exploded, or murdered."

"So this is your plan?" She almost shrieked at the voice behind her, whirling around to see Wu 5 feet away.

"Geez. You're quiet." She gasped. "Um. Remember when you promised not to stop me?"

"I do." He nodded. "Be careful. You are not a ninja."

"I'm very aware." She sighed. "You be careful too, okay? Bad… things are coming."

"I suspected as much." Wu beckoned her towards the doorway, and she looped the keychain part of the Ultimate Weapon over her shoulder before hurrying out of the cabin and off of the ship. She had a long way to go.

Actually, it wasn't that far. She could see the tallest building from here (and not just because it was tall). On a normal day, she could probably walk there in 10 minutes. However, the skies today were filled with hovercrafts shooting rockets, the ground was covered in crab robots, and robot sharks were spread over every surface. Lydia lamented the fact that the Ultimate Weapon had absolutely no value in aiding her in crossing this terrain, but took comfort in the fact that Mega wouldn't let her die. So she started out across the battlefield.

25-ish minutes later, she was at the ground floor of the tallest building, with only a couple scratches to show for it. Not bad for a non-ninja.

The next step was getting to the top. There were stairs, and an elevator. It wasn't safe in the least to take the elevator in the event of an emergency, Lydia knew that. But if she took the stairs, she would be exhausted (and probably too late) when she got to the top.

She took the elevator.

The building was 84 stories tall, which was arguably pretty tall for a building. She hit 'roof' and waited. While she listened to the muffled explosions outside the building a mulled over whether or not her claustrophobia used to be triggered by elevators, she wondered if her fear of heights would stop her from pulling this off. For that matter, how was she going to get down? Lloyd had jumped off the building, and she was incapable of surviving that, as well as probably doing it in the first place.

Buuuuuuuuuuut she couldn't chicken out now. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

After about a 8-minute ride up, during which the building shook several times and the elevator randomly stopped twice, the doors opened onto the roof. Immediately, several screaming people ran into the elevator, and she had to elbow her way past them to get out before the doors closed. A glance around the roof revealed that the last civilians were fleeing down the stairs, leaving the rooftop abandoned.

And for good reason. As she watched, a huge, robot foot came over the edge of the roof and landed on some kind of metal box (air conditioning unit?), which crumpled under the weight. A moment later, the rest of the robot followed, a huge, jet-black, hulking metal frame that had to be at least 30 feet tall. Built into the robot's chest was a control box/cockpit, inside of which was a man, also jet-black, who was grinning down at her.

Garmadon.

* * *

 **sorry for calling you gremlins I didn't mean it**

 **~FFF**


	19. oh no

**Again, no review replies, because I'm right in the middle of making dinner and I'll be gone later, but here**

* * *

"Well, well, well, well, well well well well well well." Garmadon's voice, course and mocking, echoed out of a speaker on his robot and off of the rooftop. "Looks like the ninja were too busy to stop me from taking over the city. So they sent a little girl instead." Lydia squared her shoulders at him and hefted the laser pointer.

"That's not a very nice way to talk to someone who has the Ultimate Weapon." Garmadon scoffed.

"That's not the Ultimate Weapon. Where would a kid like you get the Ultimate Weapon?"

"Um, I stole it from Wu?" Stunned silence, then laughter.

"Ha! A girl after my own heart. Why don't you hand that thing over, sweetheart?" Lydia bristled.

"'Sweetheart'?"

"What, do you prefer 'kid'?"

"I kinda do."

" _LYDIA!_ " A scream made her whirl around, and she saw Lloyd's mech hovering beside the building. She clenched her jaw and turned back to Garmadon.

"Here's how things are gonna go, alright? You are gonna get out of your robot and come down here. I need to talk to you. I won't shoot you unless it looks like you're gonna attack me. Refuse, and I blow you away. Understood?"

"****, spitfire, if you insist." The front of Garmadon's cockpit folded forwards, and he stepped out, jumping down onto the roof. As he started towards her, Lydia became aware of how… alarmingly tall he was. His torso was basically twice the size of a normal person's, but his legs were longer too to balance it out, so he was really tall and really muscular. He wasn't armed, but she had no doubt that he could kill her without much trouble.

As he got within ten feet of her, a spray of bullets hit the concrete at his feet and he stopped short.

"Get away from her!" Lloyd snarled from his mech, now closer.

"No, Lloyd, go away! I have this under control!" Lydia yelled, waving him away with her free hand. Instead, he flew closer, landing his mech on the rooftop and vaulting off of it towards her.

"What are you _doing?_ " He demanded as he got close. "I told you to stay out of trouble! This is the _opposite_ of that! What _is_ that thing?! How did you even _get_ here?! You're going to get yourself _killed!_ "

"No, I'm not. I have this under control. Please trust me." She stepped away from him, keeping the laser pointer trained on Garmadon. Amazing how an item that would do absolutely nothing to him kept him at bay. "Please go away."

"I'm not leaving you along here with-" His voice dropped to a whisper. "-my _dad._ "

"It's okay. He won't hurt me. I have the Ultimate Weapon." She gave him a cheerful smile, patting the laser pointer. "Now go away or I'll pull off your hood and reveal you to your dad." Lloyd recoiled.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh yes I would." She glared at him, and he glared back until she finally reached out and tried to snatch his hood. With far better reflexes than she had, he jerked away.

"Fine." Turning away, he stalked off and boarded his mech again, flying away.

"Tch. Lovers quarrel." Garmadon shook his head. "I know the feeling. Those hero types always look really good until you actually try to get serious with them."

"He's not my boyfriend." Lydia retorted. "I'm actually dating a villain. But that's besides the point. Lloyd and I are just friends." Garmadon raised an eyebrow.

"Did you say Lloyd?" Lydia immediately realized her mistake.

"Maybe I did. It doesn't matter." She clutched the laser pointer a bit tighter. "Come five feet closer and then stop." He obeyed, putting one set of hands on his hips.

"Now, what's so important that I had to come all the way down here for you to tell me?" Lydia took a deep breath, then let it out.

Then she held out the Ultimate Weapon.

"Here." She said as he stared at her. "Take it." He raised his other eyebrow, then took a step closer. When she didn't move, he took another, and another, until he was standing right in front of her. Every part of her was screaming _scary guy, run away,_ but she just extended the Ultimate Weapon further. Finally, he took it, and she immediately stepped back.

"You really are a girl after my own heart." He remarked. "How'd you like to be one of my generals?"

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"Suit yourself." Garmadon turned to her left and aimed. "Let's see what this baby can do." Lydia turned just in time to see the Ultimate Weapon trained on Kai's mech before he pressed the button.

Of course, all that happened was a red dot appearing on the side of Kai's mech.

"Eh? What, is it busted?" Garmadon knocked on it with a spare fist.

"Just wait." Lydia told him. He ignored her, waving it around.

"It's just a dot," he complained. "What use is-" The ground shook, and he stopped.

"Wait." She said again. The ground shook again, and again, then Lydia saw something furry poke up from behind a building. "Aaaand that's Meowthra." She announced as Garmadon squinted at the ear.

"Is that a-" He started, but broke off as Meowthra pounced on a building the dot was trained on, and the screaming began. "That's a giant cat." He muttered. "Well, I can work with that." As Lydia watched, Garmadon lead Meowthra through a park, across a highway, and into a suburban area where he aimed it at Jay's mech. Lydia looked away. She knew he wasn't gonna be able to avoid that.

Turning away, she headed towards the stairwell. The elevator definitely wasn't safe now.

"Hey, where ya going?" Garmadon called after her. "I'm serious. A kid like you could make a killing in my army." He grinned, revealing rows of sharp teeth.

"I have to get down to ground level." She disappeared into the stairwell before he could ask again.

For a while, she just walked down the stairs in silence. The ninja were going to be furious with her, especially if any of them saw her hand the Ultimate Weapon to Garmadon. And Lloyd was already mad at her for how she treated him on the rooftop. They were all gonna hate her guts.

But at least she'd spared Lloyd that pain.

The wall exploded.

Lydia inhaled sharply as concrete dust and smoke filled the stairwell, whirling around to see a gaping hole in the near wall. She saw something huge moving beside the building- Meowthra? Why would Garmadon let her get so close to the building?! The floor under her shifted, and she grabbed the stair rail with a shriek. She'd been walking a while, but it was still a _long_ way down. She had to get to safer ground. Clinging to the railing, she began making her way down the unstable stairs.

The chunk of stairs began to fall.

Lydia squeezed her eyes shut and clutched the handrail for dear life, listening to sirens, screams, explosions, and things crumbling.

She'd caused all this.

The concrete hit something, and she lost her grip on the rail, knocked off into midair. Her last thought was to curse Mega before she hit something and blacked out.

* * *

 **Lydia: I don't have to worry about getting killed because mega's watching over me :)  
readers: *incoherent screaming***

 **~FFF**


	20. I guess this is the apocalypse?

**I hope yall know that I wasn't... DELIBERATELY leaving you on a cliffhanger to make you suffer. I was just... distracted.**

 **femalegeek: HER BEST**

 **NinjagoGeek: same**

 **Kat: Yes they are. I can confirm because I already have 5 more chapters written.**

 **Ms Cipher: Indeed she is.**

 **Purple Master: pssssssssh it's fine lloyd did that in the original timeline**

 **RandomDragon: If I died I wouldn't become a ghost, this realm isn't cursed and neither is my soul so**

 **Ebony: tbh**

 **Bookkeeper: Regrettably, Mega has no control over any of this. Morro, however...**

* * *

"We're lost."

"Shut up, Lloyd, I know that." Morro used his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, squinting around at the tropical foliage surrounding them. "Of course we're lost. None of us have ever been here before."

"Try to stay calm, you two." Zane told them. "I am attempting to pick up on a satellite signal so that we might get our bearings."

"I can just do that the old fashioned way." Lowering his hand, Morro picked himself up and flew straight up, over the trees, and looked around as far as he could. Unfortunately, the steam and fog rising from the rainforest made it so he couldn't see more than a couple hundred feet in each direction. At least it was quiet up here.

Mega had dumped them in some crowded rainforest miles from civilization. It had taken them long enough just to find each other, especially poor Karen, who couldn't yell for help. But now they were together again, and were now, as a group, still lost.

Morro could not stop thinking about what Mega had said. It sounded like she was going to make his life as difficult as possible, and maybe even try to flat-out kill him. That would suck. She most likely wouldn't succeed, but it was kind of unsettling to have a 12 year old want you dead.

Sighing, Morro floated back down to the ground.

"I can't see anything. There's too much fog." He reported.

"And I can't get any signal with all this interference." Zane said with a sigh.

"Well then, I guess we just have to start walking." Cole said with a shrug. "Karen, do you wanna walk with me? You're not quite as balanced as a ninja, and I wanna make sure you don't fall." Karen nodded, and let Cole link his arm with hers. "Which way are we going?" The black ninja asked Lloyd. Lloyd looked at Morro, who shrugged.

"We're going…" He glanced at the sun, then the trees. "North." He pointed, and started walking. Cole, Karen, and Zane followed, and Lloyd looked like he wanted to argue but gave up before he began. One thing was for sure, Morro mused as he brushed aside a curtain of vines. Finding Lydia wasn't nearly as easy as he'd thought.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"Lydia! Oh my god." Lydia was yanked rudely back into the land of the living by a very familiar voice. "Are you alive? Please tell me you're alive."

"'m alive." She slurred. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I'm pretty sure you fell out of a building, that's why!" She opened her eyes a slit to see a fuzzy blob that was mostly black with a streak of green on its' head.

"…Morro?"

"Yeah, it's me. Oh my god, you got so lucky." She opened her eyes a bit more to focus her vision, and found to her dismay that it was emo highschool Morro, not her Morro, who was kneeling in front of her. Still, she couldn't complain. "How many fingers am I holding up?" He held up two fingers in front of her face.

"Two. How long was I out?" She tried to lift her head, but pain shot through her body and she dropped it again. "Oofah."

"I don't know. It's been a couple hours since that… monster appeared." Morro glanced over his shoulder, then back. "Garmadon's taken over the city, kind of. He's not really doing anything about the cat."

"Huh." She stretched out her arms, then moved her wrists and fingers. Pretty much unhurt. "I gotta get up. I gotta find the ninja."

"The ninja?" Morro echoed. "They were knocked out of the sky. No one's seen them since."

"Look at the docks by the school. They're probably there." Probably. Morro frowned.

"Why do you need to get to them?"

"I have important information for them."

"Okaaay… can you walk?"

"No idea. I'm sure I can." She lifted her head again, then groaned. "I might possibly have split my skull." Morro flinched. "But probably not."

"Let me see." He took her by the shoulders and pulled her upright, ignoring her pained yelps as he leaned her against him. "Put your head on my shoulder." He instructed, and she obeyed, wrapping one arm around his chest to brace herself. As he prodded at her head, she took note of how much skinner he was than her Morro. Her Morro was like… ripped. This Morro had an average high-schooler body, all things considered.

"You're not bleeding, and your skull looks intact." He announced after a minute. "But you might have a concussion. Scratch that, you probably do. 'Cause of how I found you and how you've acted since you woke up."

"Which… was?" She mumbled. "What do you mean how'd you found me?"

"Crumpled in a heap on a huge slab of concrete."

"Cool."

"You still probably shouldn't be walking." Instead of standing her up, he slung her over his shoulder, picking her up in a fireman's carry and standing up.

"What the _heck-_ " She began, but he interrupted.

"I'll take you to the docks near the school." He told her. "Just don't do anything. I'm not gonna drop you, I promise."

"Ooookaaaaay…" She drawled as he started to walk, staring down at the ground. "How d'you know what symptoms of a concussion are?"

"I'm gonna be a surgeon when I grow up. I've studied that kind of stuff." Lydia blinked. That was… the last career path she could ever imagine Morro taking.

"That's awesome." She gave him a thumbs-up she knew he couldn't see. "Wake me up when we get there, okay?"

"I'll do that." He said with a chuckle. Satisfied he wasn't going to kill or kidnap her, She closed her eyes and let her whirling brain shut down.

* * *

 **that's the first time I've ever typed the words "oh my god" in my life and I have to tell you guys it's weird**

 **~FFF**


	21. we're still friends right

**here's y'all's second update**

 **Review replies:**

 **Arianna: no**

 **Kat: we all are, trust me**

 **Purple Master: Oh, that... never occurred to me actually**

* * *

When Lydia woke up, she was still being carried.

She opened her eyes to see… mostly ground, and some legs. She must not have been out for very long, as they still weren't there. Except… wasn't Morro wearing all black? These legs were wearing blue jeans.

"Hang on a second." She said out loud. Immediately, whoever was carrying her stopped.

"I see you're awake now." Cole's voice.

"Cole?" She asked. "Where am I? What's going on?"

"I'm taking you to a hospital." His voice was flat and emotionless. "You didn't wake up earlier when we tried to wake you up."

"What? No! Put me down!" Sighing, Cole set her on her feet. Immediately, she fell over, as her brain was not happy about the transition from upside-down to right-side-up. "I refuse to go to a hospital." She announced as she lay on her back on the concrete, head spinning.

"You don't have any choice in the matter, okay?" Cole leaned over her, his hands on his hips. He looked angry. "You probably have a concussion, Morro told us you couldn't walk, and then you didn't wake up. And if we let you come with us, Kai is gonna kill you." Lydia winced.

"He saw, huh?"

"Yep. Look, as long as you're being stubborn, can we talk?"

"Sure. My body just needs some time to drain the blood from my head." Cole sat down next to her.

"Alright. Why the **** did you do that?!"

"What in particular? Or overall?"

"Uh, betray us? Give that- 'the ultimate weapon' – to _Garmadon?!_ " Lydia sighed, closing her eyes.

"I had to."

"And what the **** does that mean?!"

"Look, I know your future, right?" She turned her head to look at him, and he nodded.

"Yeah."

"And- and this- look, if I-" She took a deep breath. "If I tell you everything, can you promise not to tell anyone?" Cole blinked.

"Why?"

"Because the less people who know stuff they're not supposed to, the less I have to screw stuff up to fix things." Cole frowned at the ground for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine."

" _Promise._ " She fixed him with a stern look.

"Alright, fine. I promise." He rolled his eyes. "Now tell me." Lydia took a deep breath, then let it out.

"If you break your promise I'll cry." She warned him for good measure before launching into her explanation. "In the original timeline, Lloyd did this." Cole blinked.

"He _what?_ "

"Lloyd took the Ultimate Weapon from Wu. He tried to attack Garmadon with it, but he was overpowered and Garmadon used it to take control of Meowthra. He caused, basically, exactly what I did." She stopped, then turned to him in alarm. "None of you guys were badly hurt, were you?" Cole shook his head.

"Just a few bumps and scratches." Lydia let out a deep breath.

"Thank God. No one was hurt in the original timeline, but I was afraid even a small change…" She trailed off. "Anyway. Lloyd was supposed to do what I did, but I… changed it. He attacked his father in a fit of hatred, but since I changed his birthday, I distracted him, kept him from engaging his dad…" She trailed off. "I had to fix it."

"But… _why_ would you want to bring _this_ back?" Cole protested, gesturing around them at the wreckage.

"This path leads to Garmadon being redeemed and Lloyd getting his dad back." She told him. "And I have to go with you guys to make sure that happens." Cole was quiet for a few moments, processing this.

"Why not just tell everyone this?" He said at last.

"I don't want anyone to be self-conscious about their actions and possibly change the future." Was her response. "I don't want them judging what they do against what I've said should happen." Cole sighed.

"I guess that makes sense. But how do you plan to convince everyone else that you should be able to go?"

"You and Wu can vouch for me." Cole looked away. "What?"

"Lydia, Wu's… dead." His voice lowered to a mumble.

"Probably not." Was her cheerful reply. "He just does this sometimes. He'll come out when he's ready." The earth ninja looked up in shock.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Help me up, we need to get going." Cole gave her a funny look, but complied, standing up and offering her a hand. She took it, and he pulled her to her feet effortlessly. However, once she was upright, she found her balance was totally shot and stumbled right into him. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Should I just carry you?"

"No, I need to be able to walk. You can't be carrying me all the way through the jungle."

"The jungle? Why are we going to the jungle?"

"You'll see." Clutching his arm, she took a wobbly step and didn't fall down. "See? I can walk."

"Nope." Cole scooped her up again, this time carrying her bridal-style, which was far more comfortable. "We'll get there much faster this way." Lydia let out a deep sigh.

"Fiiiinnnnnneeeeee. Whatever. I guess Lloyd carried me all the way in Yang's temple, and Morro carried me around a bunch when my leg was broken." She muttered as Cole began walking briskly back the way they'd come."

"Am I supposed to know what you're talking about?" He asked.

"Nah, don't worry about it."

"Good."

* * *

 **oh btw, I AM gonna write normal Morro watched season 5 with Lydia eventually. that's gonna happen, don't worry.**

 **~FFF**


	22. yeah no we're not

**you guys get updates roughly as often as candaru gives me motivation in any shape or form**

 **Review replies:**

 **Purple Master: He miiiiiiiiight**

 **The Mayor of Ninjago City: Isn't he great? He's one of my two favorites too (with Lloyd being the favorite)**

 **RandomDragon: haha yeah took me long enough**

 **Kat: Wu's unkillable**

 **Spottedfrost: wait can I have some of that**

 **FemaleGeek: It never ends well**

 **NinjagoGeek: It was the best chapter you've ever read**

 **Ebony: oh message it to me on tumblr also yes. I added that in while I was typing it in**

 **Candaru: all the best boys carry lydia**

* * *

It was about a 10-minute walk back to where the other ninja were waiting, back in the warehouse, without their mechs. They were seated on various boxes when Cole carried her into the building, and they all immediately stood up when they saw she was still with him.

"Cole, why the **** did you bring her back here?" Kai demanded, jumping to his feet and stalking towards them. "She literally _just_ betrayed us." Lydia scanned all the ninja in the room. They all looked furious, but unhurt.

"I'm glad you're all okay." She commented as Kai got close.

"Oh, you are? You know, we'd be _more_ okay if you hadn't just given Garmadon _the Ultimate Weapon!_ " Kai yelled. Approaching, Lloyd put out a hand, waving Kai away.

"Kai, let me talk to her." He said quietly. He was definitely furious. Kai backed away a couple feet as Lloyd came right up to her, stopping just a few inches in front of Cole. His face was devoid of emotion – a perfect mask that must have taken years to master. Not that he hadn't had the opportunity to practice. He stared at her for a few seconds, then said,

"It's pretty obvious from what you just did that you've just been a liar all along, maybe working with my dad, maybe just a ****ing horrible person," That's a new one. "who was just manipulating us all along for who knows what goal – for a laugh? Just to toy with us? – but I'm still gonna ask: Why?" She stared at him, formulating an answer, and he elaborated. "Why did you give it to him?" She thought for a few moments, then replied,

"I had no other choice."

"Had no other _choice?!_ " He shouted, making her flinch. "I'm pretty sure you had plenty of other choices! You could have stayed at Cole's house! You could have stayed here! You could have, I don't know, _used_ the weapon on my dad! You could have ****ing _not_ given Garmadon the tool he needed to _finally_ take over Ninjago City!" He screamed at her. Lydia let out a morose laugh.

"Yeah. And you wanna know the best part?" He scowled at her. "I did it for you." He stared.

"What the ****- what in Ninjago made you think this was _any_ better- what made you think I'd _like_ this?!"

"You wouldn't understand."

"**** right I don't understand! You just unleashed a monster that none of us can even _hurt_ into the city! You put my _dad, Lord Garmadon,_ in charge! You _killed-_ " His voice broke, and he took a deep breath. "You _killed_ Master Wu!" Lydia sighed.

"Wu's not-"

"Hello, students." Lloyd whirled around as Wu emerged from behind a stack of boxes, to the shock and amazement of the ninja.

"-dead." Lydia finished as Lloyd's mouth dropped open. "Wu's unkillable."

"U-uncle," Lloyd gasped, making Lydia's heart sink. "I thought- I thought you were-"

"Dead?" Wu finished. "Not quite yet." Lloyd glanced at Lydia, who shrugged. Lloyd only scowled at her again before stomping off towards Wu.

"Master, Lydia- Lydia let Garmadon take over the city." He told him, his tone accusatory. Wu just nodded.

"I know."

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Whatever Lydia tells you to do next." Lloyd's mouth dropped open again, and Lydia raised an eyebrow. Evidently Wu still trusted her. "Lydia has a plan. She went over it with me first, and I gave her my blessing."

" _What?!"_ As Lloyd gaped, Wu turned to Lydia, looking expectant. As the other ninja followed his gaze, she said slowly,

"Well… you have to get the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon," She told them. "But I don't know exactly where it is."

"Fortunately, I do." Wu turned to the other ninja. "It is a long and perilous journey, but it may be your only way to defeat Garmadon." He announced. "Are you prepared to make the trip?" Jay raised his hand. "Yes, Jay?"

"Do we have to bring _her?_ " The disdain in his voice was plain as he pointed at Lydia.

"Yes." Jay let out a deep sigh.

"Fine."

"I'll go." Nya sounded similarly emotionless.

"And me!" Zane chimed in, cheerful as ever. Kai and Lloyd mumbled their agreement as well, and Cole just nodded.

"Cole, how are you so calm about this?" Kai asked, shooting him a sideways look.

"Lydia told me the future." The black ninja said simply.

"-and then swore him to secrecy." Lydia added before the clamoring could begin. "So don't bother asking." The other ninja exchanged glances.

"Fine." Kai said at last. "But you… trust her?"

"Yeah. Her actions make sense in context." He nodded again. Kai blew out a frustrated breath.

"Well… fine. I guess I won't kill her. When do we leave?"

"Now." Lydia said simply. "Although you might wanna… I dunno, get some supplies first. In the version of your future I saw, you didn't really prepare."

"I have supplies here." Wu announced, stepping aside and gesturing to a row of leather backpacks behind him. What the heck? "All of you take one of these, and we can be on our way." The ninja exchanged utterly confused glances, but obeyed, Cole setting Lydia down on the ground before going to get his. As he retrieved her, Wu marched out of the warehouse door onto the docks.

"We have a long journey ahead of us, ninja." He told them as they began to follow. "Never let down your guard."

Lydia became suddenly aware of five pairs of eyes on her.

Figures.

* * *

 **I still have several more chapters written**

 **~FFF**


	23. welcome to the jungle

***sweating* haha... christmas season am I right?**

 **haha yeah... ive spent all my time sewing lately. haha. sorry. plz continue to give me reviews**

 **Review replies:**

 **Spottedfrost: Bug spray please. I just live with sunburns.**

 **Ebony: With me there, probably more than in the ocean.**

 **Kat: exactly. Wu is invincible like Garmadon**

 **NinjagoGeek: ALL the trouble.**

 **FemaleGeek: Don't be too hard on them. They just don't get it.**

 **RandomDragon: oh it won't**

 **Candy: I am legally required to be cryptic sorry**

 **Purple master: *thumbs up***

 **Trickiest: *dabs while tears stream down my face***

 **Bookkeeper: IM CRYING SOMEONE PLEASE GIVE GARMADON A TRAVEL PACK**

* * *

They camped that night, and Garmadon still hadn't come after them.

He was supposed to come on the first day, wasn't he? Lydia mused. Maybe the second. It probably didn't make a difference.

She sat against a tree on the far side of a campfire, watching the ninja talk quietly. It made her happy to see that at least all of them were still firm friends. By taking the fall for letting Garmadon take over herself, an outsider, she'd kept their circle of friendship strong. Ish. At least she got that out of this. They still hated her though. All except Cole had kinda made a point of ignoring her all day, and since Cole had been carrying her they hadn't paid much attention to him either. He was sitting a couple feet away from her, poking the fire with a stick. Poor Cole. Not only was his relationship with the others strained because of his involvement with her, but she hated to give him the burden of the knowledge of the future.

Sighing, Lydia curled up at the base of the tree and closed her eyes. It wasn't comfortable, and the jungle got fairly cold at night, but she'd live. She just hugged her arms to her chest and hoped she'd fall asleep soon.

After lying there for about 15 minutes, something warm was draped over her and her eyes shot open. Closer inspection revealed that it was a jacket, Nya's jacket, if her retreating form was any indication. Lydia smiled and closed her eyes again. She shouldn't draw attention to it probably. Curling up under the thick fabric, she laid her head on her arm and went to sleep.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"A ninja must learn when to fight-" Wu took a fighting stance. "And when to hide in the shadows." He disappeared behind a tree. A really thin tree. Lydia craned her neck to try and peer around it, but didn't see him. How the heck. "Show me how well you can hide, Ninja." Wu instructed, popping out of the undergrowth 10 feet away. What the heck.

The ninja slipped off into the trees, except for Cole, who glanced down at her and carefully set her down before following the others. As Lydia watched, the ninja tried to conceal themselves among the sparse trees, but most were unsuccessful. Lloyd was the closest to making it, since his suit was green, but it was a different green than the plants in the forest and he still stuck out. He might manage to stay hidden only if someone wasn't looking for him.

"You have a long way to go." Wu poked Jay with his stick, who let out an 'aww'.

"Sensei, my suit is _red._ " Kai complained. "How am I supposed to hide in a jungle?"

"A true ninja can hide in any environment." Was Wu's only response.

"Traditionally, all ninja were supposed to wear black." Lydia commented. "Why Wu dressed you in primaries, I have no idea. I suspect it may have something to do with his age and his likely failing eyesight." Wu turned to her, an eyebrow raised.

"I dressed them in those colors based on elemental alignment. However, it DOES make it easier to tell them apart when they have their hoods on." Lydia did finger guns at him.

"See? I'm so smart." She noticed the ninja eying her. "It was sarcasm. I know I'm not smart."

"Oh, no, you're plenty smart." Lloyd told her flatly, the first words he'd said to her all day. "Smart enough to fool us." Lydia sighed.

"Look, Lloyd, the things I said to you, the way I treated you? None of that was a lie. Me giving the Ultimate Weapon to Garmadon was just me trying to fix a mistake I'd made."

"The mistake of being friends with me?" Lloyd shot back. "Well, congratulations. You fixed it." With that, he whirled around and stomped off. Lydia groaned.

"Twisting my words and then blocking me? Real mature." She glanced back at the other ninja staring at her.

"We should go after him." Cole spoke up. Before they could do so, however, Lloyd's scream rang out through the jungle.

"Lloyd!" Kai shouted, immediately taking off after him. Cole scooped Lydia up before following suit, and the rest of the team was right behind them. As they came over a ridge, they heard Kai shout,

" _Stop!_ " They stopped. "There's a pit up here. Lloyd fell in it." Kai's voice continued. "I almost fell in too. Come over, slowly." The ninja obeyed. Around a clump of trees was Kai, lying on his stomach on the edge of a deep pit. Lydia's heart sank as they got closer- it was like 10 or 12 feet deep. If Lloyd had stepped into it without noticing, he could have gotten hurt.

"Lloyd!" Nya yelled, scrambling to the edge of the pit. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," His voice echoed up, and Lydia let out a breath. He sounded okay. "The pit was covered in branches, but I still managed to roll when I hit the ground."

"Covered in branches?" Lydia echoed. "That sounds like a trap. But who would build a pitfall trap all the way out here, and what were they hoping to catch?"

"Why ninja, of course." Lydia froze as the familiar voice sounded behind her, and Cole whirled around to see Garmadon standing 20 feet away.

The warlord was standing on a slight incline, and had a wooden staff in one hand. He looked like he was ready for a fight. Good. All according to canon.

"Garmadon," Kai growled, getting to his feet and taking a fighting stance. Wu, though, put a hand in front of him.

"No, Kai. Garmadon is a trained ninja, far more than you have had a chance to learn. You will not be able to defeat him."

"Yeah, listen to your master, _Kai._ " Garmadon hurled the name at him like an insult, an easy grin on his face as he strolled towards the group. "Cole. Jay. Zane. And, of course, Lydia. Bit surprised you're still all buddy-buddy with the ninja after you betrayed them." Lydia stuck her tongue out at him. No way was she gonna let _him_ make her feel bad. "Nya, you're looking well." He continued, getting closer. Wu raised his staff in an attack stance and stepped away, pulling Kai with him, as Garmadon approached the pit. "And last, but not least…" he peered over the edge of the pit. "L-loyd." Stunned silence.

"It's 'Lloyd'." The blond responded a moment later.

"No?" Garmadon laughed. "L-L-O-Y-D. I named you."

"Named me- you ruined my life!" Lydia snickered.

"That's not true." Garmadon rolled his eyes. "I wasn't even a part of your life. How could I ruin it if I wasn't even there?"

"Brother, what are you doing here?" Wu asked calmly as Lloyd sputtered in anger.

"Well, taking over Ninjago City gave me access to all the surveillance systems." Garmadon explained. "And I saw you and your little group of ninjas heading out, conveniently unmasked. All I had to do was have my minions run facial recognition on you, and I had all your secret identities laid out before me."

"You didn't just… recognize me?" Lloyd sounded discouraged.

"Well, no. I haven't seen you in 16 years, after all." Garmadon pointed at Lydia with one of his upper arms. "As for you, facial recognition came up with nothing. What's with that?" Lydia shuffled through a pile of dumb excuses before deciding on,

"I don't exist." Garmadon just nodded.

"Guess not. Anyway, I saw you plotting to go locate the 'Ultimate Ultimate Weapon', which sounds stupid, but I couldn't let you try to stop me, could I?" He grinned down at Wu.

"Why go yourself?" Sensei didn't seem bothered. "Why not send your army after us instead?"

"Because I'm the best tracker in Ninjago." Garmadon puffed out his chest. Why didn't he wear a shirt. "Besides, this is rather… personal." He glanced at the pit again. "You couldn't tell your mother where you were going before running off? Some son you are. That woman tracked me down and was about to throw hands with me before I told her you were a ninja. Shouldn't that be something you tell your mother?"

"Enough." Wu snapped. "Lloyd may be your son, but he is my nephew and my student. The way you are treating him is unacceptable, and you will leave at once, or I will send you running home with your tail between your legs." Wu slammed the tip of his staff into the ground. Garmadon scoffed.

"You never could beat me when we were younger, Wu. What makes you think you can now?"

"Your memory fails you in your old age. It was you who always lost." Wu swung his staff at Garmadon's head, and their fight began.

* * *

 **me: writing is boring I dont wanna do it**

 **one (1) person: sends me a nice pm**

 **me, crying: well I guess ill update then**

 **~FFF**


	24. walkin' in the jungle walkin' in the jun

**here is my second chapter of the night as I am RIGHT about to be kicked off**

* * *

Chapter 24

As Wu and Garmadon battled it out about ten feet away, Lydia squirmed in Cole's grip.

"Put me down. Can we get Lloyd _out_ of there?" Her voice cracked on the last word and she coughed. She hated crying in front of people who hated her.

"Yeah. Um." Kai pulled off his backpack and rummaged through it as Cole set her down on the ground. "No rope. Cole, if you can hold onto my feet, I can pull him up." Cole complied as Lydia stumbled to her feet. Her head still wasn't happy with her, but falling 30+ stories does that to a person. At least she could stand without help.

"C'mon, Lloyd, I've got you." She heard Kai say, and her heart broke a little bit at the tenderness in his voice.

"Zane, can you keep an eye on them?" She turned away, pointing at Wu and Garmadon as they disappeared over a ridge, "Just to make sure Wu's safe." and Zane complied, hurrying after them.

"Can you walk?" She heard Cole ask, and turned to see him looking at her as Kai hauled Lloyd out of the pit. He looked unhurt, just pissed. And he'd looked like that a lot lately, so no shock there.

"Guys?" Zane called nervously before she could answer, and the rest of the ninja began to head in his direction. Lydia started to follow them, but tripped on a root and fell over.

"Y'know what, fair." She said aloud, face down on the ground. Hands grabbed her arms and Cole hauled her upright. He was _so_ strong.

"Let's hold off on walking a little while longer, okay?" Cole scooped her up again and hurried after the others. As they came over the ridge, Garmadon and Wu came into view again, fighting on a rickety, wooden bridge. Good. Garmadon was trapped in a cage. Also good. What _wasn't_ particularly good was the fact that he was holding Wu, by his neck, over the river.

"MASTER WU!" Lloyd yelled in alarm. Grinning, Garmadon dropped him, and Wu vanished. Amid shouts and screams from the ninja, a final instruction from Wu echoed off the trees.

" _Follow your training!_ " And then he was gone. For a few moments, the only sound was the wind in the trees.

"What the ****?" Kai said at last. "Did Wu just die?"

"No, he didn't." Lydia replied. She was ignored.

"Well… Garmadon's trapped." Jay said slowly. "What should we do with him?"

"If Cole would put me down, I'd like to take this opportunity to punch him." Lydia stated. Cole just sighed

15 minutes later, Garmadon had talked the ninja into bringing him with them. This scene progressed much like in canon, complete with lots of disapproval from Lloyd. Lydia was for bringing him solely because he was supposed to, but she could feel Lloyd's disappointment weighing on her heart.

The ninja fashioned a cart out of bamboo to put Garmadon's cage on, and soon they were off, all but Cole (who was carrying Lydia) and Lloyd (who refused) taking turns pushing it. Lots of interesting dialogue went on, but she was too focused on not talking to really enjoy it. She had to keep things on the right track.

As the sun went down, they made camp again. They agreed to take turns keeping watch (read: watching Garmadon), and all but Jay went to bed.

At probably about 3 in the morning, Lydia woke up, and, try as she might, she couldn't get back to sleep. After trying and failing to get comfortable on the hard ground for maybe half an hour, Lydia sat up and looked around. In the light of the dying fire, she could see Cole sitting up a couple feet away. After a moment of hesitation, she crawled over and lay down next to him, staring up at the stars peeking down through the trees. Cole didn't acknowledge her for a while, but finally he said,

"Hey."

"Hey." She replied. She paused, then sat up, whispering, "I think I messed up bad."

"You mean when you gave Garmadon the means to half-destroy Ninjago city?"

"Before that."

"What happened before that?"

"I met you guys." Tears sprung to her eyes, and she forced them back. "I shouldn't have interfered. If I'd not been so selfish and just let the plot run naturally, I wouldn't have to- have to do stupid stuff to fix it. And I have to go with you to make sure it happens, but every time I open my freaking mouth I mess something else up." She let out a watery laugh. "I should've stayed away. I would've survived."

"Is this why you've been so weird lately?" Cole turned to look at her, and she blinked.

"Weird how, exactly?"

"Well… quieter." He shrugged. "The Lydia I know throws gravel at bullies, teaches children memes, blows razzberries at teachers, and is by no means quiet. And you've still been like that a bit, but you're way more… reserved. You're not so quick to scold, you're not as opinionated. You remember that story you told us? About the other Ninjago?"

"Y-yeah."

"You didn't seem too concerned about changing it then."

"W-well, there were tons of problems to fix. This world everything turned out good in the end." She sniffled. "And I knew all the secrets. All the loopholes. I could fix my mistakes." She shook her head. "Here I don't have all the information."

"Still. I like the old Lydia better, and she hasn't done too badly for herself." He pointed out. "I'd like to have her back." Lydia let out a shuddering sigh.

"Okay. I'll try."

"Great." Cole didn't say anything for a second, then wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against his side. Lydia's eyes flew open and she went still, hardly daring to breathe for a couple seconds. When he didn't do anything more, she lowered her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes. For a while, she just listened to the sounds of the creatures in the jungle around her, then, finally, she fell asleep.

* * *

 **probably the main reason I didn't update for so long was because these chapters just feel so... awkward? they feel so uncomfortable**

 **~FFF**


	25. oops

***writes furiously***

 **Review replies(for a second time... I'd just finished typing them all out when I ACCIDENTALLY REFRESHED REEEE):**

 **NinjagoGeek: Oh not that much, don't worry. Just enough to foreshadow.**

 **phentiamwhip: I hope you enjoy this, and while I haven't answered your PMs yet rest assured I HAVE read them and enjoyed them!**

 **The Mayor of Ninjago City: _gosh_ same (cause y'know... that's not REALLY me... sigh...)**

 **Kat: Just write it about 50 times a day, you'll learn it quick enough!**

 **Spottedfrost: Sounds smashing, let's do it**

 **The Trickiest One: That is a huge compliment omg**

 **Wicki: She's smart, she'll probably live.**

 **Bookkeeper: HAHA he would tho**

 **Purple master: thank yooooou :'0**

 **FemaleGeek: I'M GLAD YOU LIKED IIIIIIITTTTTTTTT**

 **Ebony: *Morro crashes through a tree* "I HEARD YALL WERE TALKING **** ABOUT MY GF" but actually re: awkwardness it's more like... I'm trying to splice in direct scenes/quotes from the movie and I feel like I'm doing it wrong? But no one's complained lol**

 **RandomDragon: Not for long I can assure you**

* * *

"Well _this_ doesn't look normal." Morro stated, gazing at the huge city in front of them from the ledge they stood on. Plumes of smoke rose from dozens of presumed fires, and what looked like a _giant cat_ sat in the center of the metropolis, looking bored.

"Not at all." Cole agreed. "We should probably go help."

"Definitely." Lloyd nodded. As the three ninja began to pick their way down the ledge, Morro snapped his fingers.

"I think this is the movie." He announced. Everyone looked at him. "The Ninjago movie." He clarified as they stared. "Lydia told me about it. She wouldn't let me watch it, but she told me about it. Her brief explanation included a jungle and a giant cat."

"And… what does that mean for us?" Lloyd raised an eyebrow.

"If I'm right, it means this is an alternate Ninjago. So there'll be versions of all of us." He glanced at Karen. "Except Karen." She crossed her arms. "So, just keep in mind that you might run into yourselves. Carry on." Morro summoned his dragon, helped Karen on behind him, and took off towards the city.

Which was a mess.

Buildings lay in heaps, hospitals were filled to overflowing, the people were in a panic, and every few minutes something exploded. The ninja + Morro split up and used their powers to help people from wreckage, while Karen helped calm frightened civilians around one of the hospital (which she was impressively good at for not being able to talk). Strangely enough, none of the ninja were recognized. Their forms in this world must be really different. Morro didn't think he'd seen any of them, but with that in mind he couldn't be sure.

A couple hours after their arrival, the ninja regrouped with Karen, who gave them all the information they'd learned while with the people.

 _"Garmadon just took over the city."_ She scribbled in Ninjagian on her ever-handy whiteboard. _"He summoned the cat. He's currently on top of the tallest tower. The ninja were shot down and are missing. A lot of people think they're dead, but there's one teenage boy I met who insists he saw them heading towards the jungle with a girl named Lydia."_

"That can't be anyone but our Lydia." Morro sighed. "So, back to the jungle, I guess."

"But what about the city?" Lloyd protested. "The people?"

"If you wanna stay and help, be my guest. But my top priority is getting-" A sickening _crack_ rang out through the air, cutting him off, and Morro's head snapped up to see a huge chunk of concrete falling towards him. Immediately, he shoved everyone else back with a gust of wind, then used a second gust to slow down the concrete enough for him to get clear before it hit the ground.

"That would be Mega." He commented as the passerby began to exclaim in alarm and the ninja + Karen gaped at the concrete slab. "She kinda threatened to kill me before she sent me here."

"Why?" Lloyd squinted at him. "What'd you ever do to her?"

"She credits herself for the fact that I survived season 5, and got mad when I said she barely helped." He got to his feet, dusting himself off. "So there might be a couple more attempts to kill me."

"Well that's just peachy." Lloyd grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Maybe we should split up. So she's less likely to just kill us all."

"I'm fine with that. Karen, you wanna come with me?" Morro summoned his dragon, and Karen nodded, scrambling onto the back off the saddle. "We're going back in. If you guys wanna stay and help, go ahead." He told them as he climbed on in front of her and took the reins. "With Mega trying to kill me, I'm more of a hindrance than a help, after all." The ninja glanced at each other, then Cole nodded.

"You and Lloyd are right. Take good care of Lydia, okay?" Morro gave him a thumbs-up, then took off, leaving the burning city behind and flying back into the jungle.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"No. No, no, no, no, and no." Lloyd said firmly. "There is literally _no_ reason for us to go into the creepy graveyard instead of just _following the path._ "

"But Lloyd!" Jay protested. "Shortcut!"

"We don't know it's a shortcut! What if it's infested by poisonous snakes or something?" Lloyd threw his hands up in the air. "You guys can't seriously be considering this, can you? It's common sense!"

"Ahh, don't be such a wuss, L-loyd." Garmadon waved him off. "I'm telling you, it'll cut a day off of our trip. And every day we spent walking is another day the giant cat is destroying Ninjago City." Lloyd growled, then spun to look at Lydia.

"What do _you_ think about all this?" Lydia blinked at him from where she clung to Cole's arm.

"I thought you hated me now."

"I do." Ouch. "But you claim to know what you're doing, so where do you think we should go?"

"Well…" She slowly turned to look at the graveyard path. "I'm sorry, but…"

"Why did I even ask?" Lloyd sighed, turning on his heel and starting to walk down the darker path. "Fine. I'm not winning this, am I?" Lydia just shook her head.

The group made their way down the graveyard path, which was foggy and got darker the further down they went. Which was logical. As the path began to even out, Lydia could see bones littering the ground, and an eerie green glow coming from… somewhere. Cool.

After about fifteen minutes down the path, Lydia heard a cracking sound, like someone stepping onto a stick – or bone – off to their right.

"I'm… starting to think this might've been a bad idea." Jay voiced, sounding worried.

"Oh, you're only just now realizing that?" Lloyd grumbled.

"Regardless of our bad decisions, I don't think we're alone." Lydia commented, staring out into the fog. Someone was moving out there.

"Definitely not." Kai agreed, slowing to a stop. "Show yourself!" He yelled into the fog. No response, but the shadow was abruptly replaced by an orange light. A torch, if she remembered correctly. Another orange light popped up to their left, then another in front of them, and the rest of the ninja stopped short as the lights began to approach.

"This is _your_ fault." Nya hissed at Garmadon.

"Let's not start tossing around blame just yet." Garmadon protested. "Maybe they're friendly!"

A General #1 stepped out of the fog.

He had a crab hat that was charred and missing a claw, several missing teeth, and an eyepatch. He was holding a burning torch in one hand, and a knife caked with dried blood in the other.

"See? Nothing to worry about!" Garmadon assured the obviously freaking out group as two more generals appeared out of the fog. "It's my generals. These guys love me."

"Love you?" One of the other generals let out a raspy laugh. "You… _fired_ us."

"Does that make a difference?" Garmadon tilted his head as more torches appeared in the fog. "What's a little incineration between friends?"

"We're not _friends_." Another general hissed, brandishing a rusty katana.

"See, this is why I didn't take you up on your job offer. People who work for you end up like this." Lydia gestured around her. "Guys, you might wanna get ready for a fight. Contrary to what Garmadon says, I don't think these guys are very friendly."

"B-but we're outnumbered!" Jay stammered as he and the other ninja took a defensive stance. "A-and we can't fight without our mechs!"

"Focus on dodging their attacks. They have sharp weapons." Lydia instructed, releasing Cole's arm and backing towards Garmadon's cage. "I'm useless here. Sorry."

"Yeah, you're pretty useless in general." Lloyd muttered, picking up a rock and holding it in a position to block. Lydia sighed.

One of the generals charged at Lloyd and he hurled the rock, hitting his attacked square in the nose and making him fall straight backwards. The rest of the generals took this as their cue to attack, and charged at the other ninja.

"L-loyd, let me out of here!" Garmadon yelled, shaking the bars of his cage. "I can reason with them!"

"No, you really can't." Lloyd kicked the general in the face as he tried to get back up. The other ninja weren't faring quite so well, they were all struggling to dodge way too much to get even a single attack off.

"We need to retreat!" She heard Nya yell.

"No!" Lloyd yelled back. "Keep fighting! What did Wu teach us?"

If anyone answered, Lydia never found out, 'cause something hard hit her in the back of the head and she hit the ground. She heard a yell, which might've been because of her, and opened her eyes just in time to see something hurtling towards her head before she blacked out.

* * *

 **oops.**

 **~FFF**


	26. yell at garmadon for 2 pages straight

**MORE UPDATES**

 **Review replies:**

 **NinjagoGeek: Then I won't tell you.**

* * *

Lydia woke up to a rattling, bumping surface underneath her.

"Aw _heck_." She exclaimed, jerking upright. The sudden movement made her head throb and spin, but she managed to figure out where she was before dropping her head into her hands. She was in Lloyd and Garmadon's cage. She should _not_ be here.

Once her vision had cleared, she looked up again. She was in one corner of the cage, in between Lloyd and Garmadon, who were sitting as far away from each other as possible. They were definitely not making up.

They were bumping along through the jungle, the generals' base not in sight yet. There were scorched and dirty generals surrounding the cage, probably around 30 with a few of them pushing them. She couldn't see anything familiar, which meant they still had a considerable amount of time.

Shifting to a more comfortable position, Lydia studied the father and son's faces. Garmadon looked… almost offended, even a bit hurt, probably at the notion that his generals actually no longer listened to him. Lloyd, on the other hand, looked… pretty upset. Probably 'cause he was trapped in a cage, heading to his death – did he know that? – with the two people he hated most.

This… he wasn't thinking like he did in the movie. He was definitely angrier. In the movie, he'd been ashamed of himself for releasing Meowthra, which had made him quieter and more unsure, making timid suggestions instead of snapping and barking orders. By releasing Meowthra, by betraying him, she'd made him bitter, angry, and less likely to make up with his dad. In the one thing she'd thought she'd done right, which was taking the blame for Meowthra's release herself, she'd actually messed it up worse. Not to mention the fact that the "teach you how to throw" scene wouldn't happen cause she. Already did that. She was officially a complete and utter failure.

"I can't believe the nerve of my generals." Garmadon muttered. "I gave them a job, robots, _outfits_ , we were like _family._ After a tiny little hiccup like firing them out of a volcano, _this_ is how they repay me?" Lydia glanced up to see him leaning back against the bars of the cage, both sets of arms crossed. He didn't actually look too concerned. "Ungrateful. That's what they are." Well, she couldn't mess it up much worse. Time to take Cole's advice.

"That's your whole problem, isn't it?" She spoke up. "You're so egocentric. You think you're so great. But you're not. That's the root of everything you do. Trying to take over the world? You think you'd make a better ruler. Treating your subjects like crap? You think they should endure it because they get to be around you. Treating your _son_ like you have? You think he doesn't deserve you."

Lydia stood up, grabbing the bars of the cage to stabilize herself as both the other occupants of the cage stared at her in shock. "And you're _not_. You're pretty much the worst person I've ever met. I'm sure some of that has to do with the snake bite that turned you into _this_ , but that didn't keep the other Garmadon from being a _decent human being."_

"Now hang on just a second," Garmadon started, standing up.

"SIT _DOWN._ " Lydia thundered. Garmadon sat. "You're a jerk to your son, taunting him for things he has _no control_ over while you literally made his life hell. Can you imagine being a little kid in a big city, and anytime _anything_ bad happens, _you_ get blamed? That's what Lloyd's life was like growing up! Anytime _you_ did something, _he_ was blamed for it by the oatmeal-brained thousands of inhabitants of Ninjago City! And none of that was worth it! Not even remotely! Lloyd lost acceptance, friends, safety, _everything_ just from being related to you, and you know what he got? _Nothing!_ A loving father? Haha, nope. You barely acknowledged his existence for _sixteen years!_ "

She was way worked up, and she could feel tears pricking at her eyes. "And when you _do_ see him, you're a huge _jerk_ to him! Do you think 'dang, I sure have been a terrible father, maybe I should try'n make up for it'? Nope! Get over yourself! You couldn't even take over Ninjago City without _my_ help, a little girl. Look around you!" Lydia threw out her free arm, gesturing to their captors, who… she only now realized had stopped and were watching her.

"Your subjects aren't loyal to you. Not these guys, not the ones back in the city. The only reason they don't rise up and take you out is because they're too scared to challenge your armies, which I can only imagine you acquired through intimidation as well. But without them, you're nothing. And now we're all going to be tossed in a volcano and we're all going to die. And it's all. Y our. Fault." She jabbed a finger at him, finally finished. He stared at her for a moment, then his eyes narrowed into slits.

"I don't have to take this **** from you, brat." He growled. "You don't know anything about me."

"I think you'll find that I know a lot more about you than you think." She told him, voice cold. "You're 174 years old." Garmadon blinked.

"How'd you-"

"You were bitten by a snake bitten by a spider, it gave you four arms." She continued. He hadn't actually shared this information with the ninja in this world, which is why she could use it. "You were married to Koko, AKA the Lady Iron Dragon." Lloyd's mouth dropped open in shock. "She left you because she wanted Lloyd to have a better life than the one you would've given him. You're Wu's older brother. He was always the favorite, and you're resentful of that. You-"

"Alright, that's enough." Garmadon snapped. "You're clearly some kind of first-class stalker, which I can understand, but-"

"I'm not a stalker." She interrupted. "I just have been granted this information about you. If I was a stalker, I'd pick someone worth it."

"Well you still don't know anything important!" He shot back. "Things like the fact that I _do_ care about Lloyd! Why do you think these guys captured him too? Did you think for a minute that maybe the reason I was so obsessed with conquering Ninjago is because my _son_ was there? It's not like Koko ever gave me a call letting me know how he was doing, or where I could find him! I had no idea I was fighting him every other day! This whole- _you_ allowing me to take over was the first thing that allowed me to see him in 16 years!"

"That still doesn't excuse how you're treating him!" She hurled back at him, those stubborn tears rising up again. "Making fun of his voice. Insulting him for not telling Koko he was a ninja. Calling him a wuss for trying to not get us into _this exact situation_. The only reason I was on your side was because it was plot-relevant, but that was just uncalled for. If you love him, how about you try and show it for once?!" Garmadon scowled, but didn't appear to have a response to that. "Cause you really. Really haven't." She slid down to the floor of the cage. "And now we're going to die."

It was at this moment that the rest of the ninja knocked down the generals around them and revealed themselves.

"Guys!" Lloyd exclaimed, and his voice sounded so _young_ that Lydia whirled around to look at him in shock. There were tears on his face too. Oops.

"How long have you guys been standing there?" She asked, turning back as the ninja removed their disguises.

"A few minutes." Cole admitted, undoing the latch mechanism and opening the cage door. "We heard the yelling."

"Ahh yes, my finest moment." Lydia swiped the tears off her face. "Think I'm concussed again. We need to get out of here. Garmadon fired a _lot_ of generals." Cole nodded, climbed into the cage, and scooped her up before stepping back out.

"I saw some sort of vehicle in the base that I think flies. Come on."

"Should we really run back towards the generals?" Zane asked as Lloyd and Garmadon climbed out of the cage.

"They'll run us down if we try to run away." Lydia told them, clinging to Cole's shoulder. "Besides, this will be much faster. Vamos!" Apparently at least one of them had seen Dora the Explorer, as Cole set off towards the base and the others followed. More generals began popping out of the woodwork all around them as they entered the torchlit enclosure, and Lydia noted the ninja doing a pretty decent job of kicking general butt. Something must have happened.

"It's over there!" Cole nodded towards some kind of airship hidden halfway underneath a wooden structure.

"And so are more of them!" Nya yelled, pointing to the guards, who were now running towards them.

"Jay, can you get the ship running?" Lloyd punched a general in the nose. "And Cole. The rest of us will take care of the generals." Jay nodded and sped up ahead of Cole, spinning and roundhouse-kicking one of the guards in the face to take her out. When did he learn to do that?

Regardless of how, the ninja and Garmadon did a wonderful job of fighting off the bad guys while Jay and Cole hotwired the airship. It looked exactly like the one they had built in the movie, shockingly enough. Cole had set her in one of the seats, where she got a partially-clear view of the others kicking butt for a few minutes despite their clear disadvantage.

"Got it!" Jay yelled as the airship rattled to life.

"Great!" Lloyd yelled, and Lydia glanced around for the source of his voice before spotting him on top of one of the wooden structures. "Everyone, get to-" And then he screamed as one of the generals tackled him from behind, sending him falling two stories and hitting the ground hard with a sickening _thud_.

"Dang it." Lydia muttered. "I forgot about this part."

* * *

 **¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **~FFF**


	27. lots of crying but that's normal

***whispering*** ** _krismastime_**

 **so uh, I mentioned to some people that I might be writing a christmas oneshot, but the only idea I had for it is better in comic form. So I'm drawing it instead. I'm gonna post it tomorrow on my tumblr art blog (hopefully in the morning? maybe early afternoon. tomorrow's gonna be busy), which is art-of-fff dot tumblr dot com. Super easy. It's for ottwcd verse, so I hope yall will go check it out!**

 **Review replies:**

 **Phentiamwhip: Thank you!**

 **Purple Master: It gets better**

 **Ebony: Psshhh nooooooo, arms don't just fall off. I've never seen someone's arm just fall off. It's fine.**

 **Wicki: Thank you!**

 **FemaleGeek: Psshhh, volcano? No big deal! I dunno why they're making such a fuss over it.**

* * *

Everyone was moving before Lloyd hit the ground.

Lydia watched in stunned silence as Cole and Jay leaped out of the airship, sprinting towards Lloyd's limp body on the ground. Kai was already there, knelt over him with a hand on his shoulder. Even Garmadon was running towards him, elbowing one of the zombie-like generals in the face when he tried to stop him. As her defense was gone, Lydia slid out of the airship and began to make her way over.

As she neared the cluster of ninja, she saw Lloyd lift his head, and her heart thudded with relief. He wasn't even unconscious, much less dead.

"Are you okay? Please tell me you're okay." Kai asked as she sank down next to Cole.

"I'm okay." Lloyd replied in a small voice. "I think my shoulder's dislocated."

"Guys, more baddies coming in hot!" Nya yelled, scrambling to her feet, and Jay and Zane got up to assist her as another wave of generals closed in on them.

"Can you walk? We have to get you into the airship. None of us know how to relocate your shoulder, except Wu…" Kai trailed off.

"I know how." Garmadon said softly. His voice was… gentle, and tender, bordering on sounding like his sensei counterpart's voice. His face reflected it, he looked actually concerned for his son. For once. "You two, go help. I'll pop his shoulder back in and then we can get out of here." Garmadon thumbed over his shoulder, and Cole obeyed, but Kai hesitated.

"And why should I leave him alone with you?"

"He's my son." Did she detect a note of desperation in his voice?

"He's not quite alone with him." Lydia spoke up quietly. Kai shot her a frown.

"I don't exactly trust you either."

"I get that. But if you don't trust me, trust my rant like 10 minutes ago. I made my opinion on Garmadon pretty clear, and while I wouldn't be able to stop him if he tried to hurt Lloyd, I could slow him down enough for you guys to get back. Besides, he's evil, he's not heartless. Lloyd _is_ his son." Kai hesitated again, but looked down at Lloyd, who whispered,

"It's okay. Go." Finally, Kai released him, standing up and hurrying off after the others. The moment he looked like he was out of earshot, Lydia whirled around to face Garmadon.

"Regardless of what I said to Kai, if you hurt Lloyd, I _will_ hurt you." She announced, staring him dead in the eye. He shook his head, muttered,

"Spitfire." And moved over to Lloyd. "Sit up for me, will ya?" Some of the roughness in his voice was back, but he sounded a bit unsure. Lloyd struggled to sit up, and Garmadon helped him with two of his arms as Lydia scooted closer, struck once more by how _big_ Garmadon was. Near 8 feet tall, incredibly muscular, and his hands were _huge_. It made sense to see him fighting, but seeing him be so _gentle_ with Lloyd made her heart melt a little bit. Just a little bit.

"Where's it hurt the most?" The warlord asked, and Lloyd brushed his right shoulder with his left hand.

"There."

"Alright." Garmadon set one hand on his shoulder, and one on his forearm with a third on Lloyd's good shoulder. "You ready?"

"It's only gonna hurt for a moment, right?" Lloyd looked away, squeezing his eyes shut.

"It shouldn't hurt." Lydia cut in softly. "Take a deep breath." Lloyd opened one eye a slit to look at her, then closed it again and took a deep breath.

"Ready."

"Okay. Here goes." Lydia looked away and heard a _pop._ A couple seconds of silence, then,

"That feels right." Lloyd sounded a little bit surprised. "It- it feels good." She turned back to see him looking up at his dad. "Thanks."

"It- good." Garmadon stammered. "You feeling okay? You took a hard fall."

"My shoulder took the worst of it." He rolled his shoulder. "Yeah. Doesn't hurt at all."

"Good. We gotta get out of here." Garmadon scrambled to his feet, pulling Lloyd up with him. "C'mon ninjas, time to make our exit!" Slowly, Lydia got to her feet, following them as they headed towards the airship. This was actually taking a turn for the better.

As Jay hopped into the pilot's seat and readied the craft for takeoff, Lloyd glanced around as if looking for something. When his eyes landed on her, slowly making her way across the (to her eyes) tilting ground, he vaulted out of the aircraft and ran to help. He wrapped an arm around her when he reached her, helping her hobble more quickly towards the ship. As soon as they were onboard, Jay took off, and within moments they were high above the camp.

Sitting in one of the hard seats, Lydia leaned her head back and let out a breath. That was plenty enough excitement for one night.

"Hey." A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see Lloyd sitting next to her. "I… don't hate you." Her told her quietly, almost shamefully.

Lydia burst into tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" She choked out as he drew his hand back in surprise. "I was a jerk to you and I betrayed you and I was trying to fix the timeline I messed up but I just made things worse…" She buried her face in her hands, shoulders shaking from repressed sobs.

"Hey, don't cry." Lloyd sounded worried and a bit startled, touching her shoulder again. "It's okay. I'm not mad."

"But you _were_ mad, and you had good reason to be, a-and- and it really sucked having you hate me!" She buried her face in her arms, drawing her knees up to her chest. " _Especially_ since I _knew_ it was all my fault. And I didn't- I didn't tell anyone except Cole why I did it, I was too scared of changing the timeline, but everything I did to try to fix it just made it _worse!_ " Lloyd's hand slowly slid around her, and he pulled her against him, giving her a hesitant hug. She pressed her forehead against his shoulder. "I'm s-so sorry. I'm an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." He argued softly. "You tried your best to fix it when you messed up. Besides, you always sleep through class and yet I've never seen you get lower than a B on a test." Lydia giggled.

"I'm in college. This is below my grade level."

"Still. And you talked Wu into working with you, and kinda _intimidated_ my dad into doing what you say…" He trailed off. "I'm sorry for the things I said."

"No. That was my fault." She rubbed her sleeve across her face and wrapped both arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. She'd missed him a lot.

"It doesn't matter. I forgive you." He gave her a squeeze.

"Y-you sure?"

"You threw rocks at bullies for me. You gave my _dad_ a lecture on morality. How could I not forgive you?" She didn't really have an answer for that. So she just cried.

* * *

 **So I totally have the next few chapters planned out, but not... written yet. So not sure when the next update will be.**

 **In the meantime, Merry Christmas!**

 **~FFF**


	28. aaaand this again

**Pretty short chapter today. :P**

 **Not gonna reply to reviews cause im tired but merry krismas**

* * *

Just because Lydia was totally exhausted didn't mean she was gonna be able to sleep.

Lydia sat curled up on the floor in front of her seat, head leaned against the seat in front of her as she watched the clouds float past in the moonlight. It was an absolutely gorgeous sight that she couldn't fully appreciate due to her complete and utter exhaustion. Concussions were fun.

Lloyd was sitting on the seat behind her and to her right, one hand resting on her shoulder. Jay was still driving, and all the other ninja and Garmadon were scattered around the small airship. They'd been flying for half-an-hour-ish now, and everyone was pretty quiet. Probably tired.

"Jay, do you want me to take over for you?" Lloyd spoke up from behind her. "You look like you need a break."

"Yeah, thanks." He did sound tired. Lloyd's hand left her shoulder, and she heard the wooden base of the airship creak as they switched places.

It probably wouldn't be safe for her to sleep anyway, she was a restless sleeper and there was nothing between her and the edge of the airship. Though it was unlikely to happen on its' own, she'd hate to fall to her death after escaping it the first couple times. So she stretched her arms above her head, grabbing the seat back in front of her and dragging herself up onto the seat. The view of the sky was better up here, she noted. The airship was really pretty quiet, and they were over the clouds so she could see the full moon and the faint stars dotting the sky.

Up at the front, she could see Garmadon and Lloyd talking quietly. Good sign. Very good sign. They were making some good progress. Good.

Her brain was _completely_ fried. She needed sleep.

Sighing, she rested her forearms on the seat back, resting her chin on them. Maybe they'd stop and sleep for the night. She wasn't going to be able to function very well tomorrow otherwise. And there was important stuff happening tomorrow, so…

"Hey," She called, but before anyone could respond the airship banked hard to the right, throwing her off the seat, over the edge of the airship, and into midair.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"Darn it. Dang it!" Mega snapped, swiping the scroll in front of her angrily with her pen. "Not again!" Honestly! Some of her best-laid traps hadn't even slowed Morro down, much less taken him out. Worse, he was so _smug_ about it.

"'Oh there's Mega again, trying to kill me. What a loser'." Mega muttered under her breath, then cursed as she rolled up the thick scroll. If only she could just tear it up, or burn it, and he'd just be gone. At this rate, he was gonna come back with Lydia and one of them was going to kill her (or at the very least get her grounded for a year).

She'd dug herself this hole, and now she was gonna be buried in it if she couldn't get Morro to take the fall. Which was _not_ what she deserved. She'd worked hard to get to the point she was at now, and she refused to lose it 'cause some dumb ghost tattled on-

-wait.

Mega raised an eyebrow at the scroll. That wasn't too bad of an idea.

* * *

 **I refused to not leave you on a cliffhanger**

 **~FFF**


	29. aaaaaaaaaaaa

**am I still alive?**

 **who knows**

 **review replies:**

 **phentiamwantip: Thank you!**

 **Ebony: Mega doesn't really have any choice in the matter... (or I mean... she COULD break the rules in someone's FAVOR for once...)**

 **Purple Master: and as we all know, that's NEVER a good thing.**

 **NinjagoGeek: Good. Please do. I've already written the next chapter.  
**

 **Spottedfrost: Duct tape would have been handy here**

 **Bookkeeper: Awww thank you!**

 **Bob: BOB! It's been a while! Merry Christmas and thank you!**

 **Severus: to MYSELF. it doens't count.**

 **Candy: DELICIOUS atmosphere also mega sucks**

* * *

The sensation of falling from a great height was one that she was becoming annoyingly familiar with.

On the bright side, she noted as she fell on her back through the wispy clouds, the moon was really pretty from here. If she was gonna die from fall damage, she might as well get some memories out of it. Not that the views from heaven would be less stupendous, but. Anyway, cool.

She glanced over her shoulder at the ground, which was rapidly approaching, and closed her eyes. She always thought skydiving would be fun, but she would have preferred to try it for the first time with a parachute.

She hit something and didn't die.

"This is the third time, Lydia." A very tired, but more importantly familiar voice came from half a foot above her. "Honestly, what would you do without me?" Slowly, she opened one eye to see her boyfriend smiling down at her.

"Morro?" Immediately, she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder and clutching him like her life depended on it. "How did- how did you get here? How did you find me? H- how- oh my gosh. I love you." Morro laughed, wrapping his arms around her back.

"Realm Crystal, Mega and some civilian, and I love you too." He pressed a kiss to her hair. "Let's get down to the ground. Karen's waiting."

"Karen's here?" She exclaimed as they started to descend. "Okay, but I gotta go back up in a minute. I was in an airship with the ninja and I fell out."

"Of course you did."

"There were no seatbelts. Don't judge me." Those tears that would not leave her alone were starting to reappear. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Morro gave her a squeeze. "We'll pick her up and then go after them, okay?"

"'Kay." Lydia held on tight to him as they lowered to the ground, and almost immediately Karen tackle-hugged her from the side. Lydia laughed, releasing Morro so she could hug her back. Karen gave her a tight squeeze, then let go and began signing furiously at her. "Whoa, slow down. I have no idea what you're saying." Lydia put a hand up to stop her, grabbing Morro's arm with the other to keep herself upright.

"Something about how you shouldn't have put yourself in danger and to stay put the next time you get teleported to another dimension because she was worried about you, probably." Morro suggested, and Karen gave her a firm nod, crossing her arms.

"Since when can you read sign?" Lydia turned to raise an eyebrow at her boyfriend.

"I can't. She just looked like she had about the same thoughts I did."

"Oh. Okay." Lydia stepped closer to him again, grabbing his arm with both hands. "Let's go. The ninja must think I'm dead."

"Other ninja." Morro explained to Karen as he summoned his dragon. "You should both be able to fit on here." He pulled Lydia up onto the saddle in front of him, and gave Karen a hand up so she could scramble on behind him. Not the most comfortable arrangement, but whatever works. Once they were both settled, Lydia directed him to take off.

"Are you okay?" He asked as they neared the cloud level. "You're acting a bit loopy. Is that from the fall?"

"Oh, no. Probably the concussion." Stunned silence.

"The what."

"I fell out of a skyscraper - well, it crumbled underneath me, don't judge - and got a concussion, and then I got conked over the head by a zombie general." She paused. "And… before that I got beat up by some punks with too much free time and locked in a closet. But I think I've mostly healed from that." Morro took a deep breath, then let it out.

"Lydia."

"It wasn't my fault!" She protested. "Those kids were just jerks. And how was I supposed to know that the skyscraper was gonna crumble? Granted, I kinda knew the zombie generals were gonna attack me. Kinda."

"You could have… easily been killed. Several times."

"Aw, Mega wouldn't let me die. She knows you'd kill her." Silence.

"...Lydia, I paid Mega a visit. She doesn't have access to your scroll anymore." Lydia blinked.

"...oh."

"She does have access to mine, and she threatened to kill me." Morro continued. Lydia swiveled around to look at him.

"Whaaaaat? Why?"

"She says it's her doing that I'm still alive, and since I refuse to acknowledge that she's gonna kill me." Lydia frowned.

"Well, technically, it is… she did send me there…"

"Her intent wasn't to save me, she just wanted to ruin your life. Doesn't count."

"Mmm true. What a brat." She paused. "She realizes if she kills you, I'm gonna kill her, right?"

"I don't think she sees you as as much of a threat."

"Rather sexist and I can totally kill her." Morro smirked and mussed her hair.

"I'm sure you could. But there's no way that brat is gonna be able to kill me."

"Good. She better not." Lydia turned forwards again to see a mountaintop jutting out of the clouds. "They've probably already landed. Go down a little bit." Morro dipped below the clouds, and the Temple of Fragile Foundations came into view, complete with an airship parked on the edge of the mountain.

"There they are." She said, then paused as they flew down towards them. "Actually, I don't see them. Are they inside the building already, or… nevermind." As Morro landed about fifteen feet away, the ninja climbed out of the airship and stared at her. Well, half staring at her, half staring at Morro and his dragon.

"Hi guys." She called cheerfully, hopping off of the dragon and, amazingly, not falling down. "This is my boyfriend, Morro, and my roommate, Karen." More staring. Morro slid out of the saddle, and gave Karen a hand down before turning to acknowledge the ninja.

"Hey."

"Hi." Jay squeaked. Lloyd shook his head, tearing his eyes away from Morro to look at Lydia.

"Lydia, are you okay? We thought you were dead!" His voice broke on the last word, and he coughed to cover it up. Oh no.

"Almost. But Morro caught me, so I'm fine. It's n'big deal." She let out a yelp as Morro scooped her up. "Hey, I can walk."

"You have a concussion. No walking." Karen gave her a firm nod in agreement.

"Fine, whatever." She crossed her arms and turned back to the ninja. "We should get going. Chop chop, into the castle. Temple? Whatever."

"I want to hear exactly what's happened since you showed up here." Morro told her as the ninja began to drift uncertainly towards the building.

"In due time. We have important plot stuff to go through first."

"Fine." He looked a bit discouraged as he followed the ninja, so she continued.

"Here's a preview, though: it kind of sucked overall and I missed you a lot."

"I'm not sure I should be angry or glad about that." He paused. "Okay, that sounded really selfish, but-"

"Well, glad I understand." She interrupted. "But mad at what?"

"Whoever made you unhappy." She blushed and laughed.

"Well, once we get back to the city, I can introduce you and you can kick their sorry butts."

"Those aforementioned punks?"

"Since when do you say 'aforementioned'? And yeah, those guys."

"Since I heard you keep saying it, duh. And this is all assuming they're even still alive. That giant cat back in the city has destroyed half of… everything."

"Oh yeah. Haha. Oops. Let's keep walking."

* * *

 **mEAga**

 **~FFF**


	30. hey mega what the heck pt 2

***heelies into view* hey guys what's up**

 **So um... uhhh... I'm gonna blame college for my absence.**

 **Review replies:**

 **Candy: a**

 **Kat: :)**

 **NinjagoGeek: :)**

 **Ebony: :)**

 **FemaleGeek: Annoying 12 year old who likes to kill people for her own benefit.**

 **Bookkeeper: Gosh same**

 **RandomDragon: :)**

 **Imposter Morro: He's just about to!  
**

 **Servus: Gosh same**

* * *

"This cat is destroying everything." Lloyd complained.

"Ordinarily, I would say you're exaggerating, but in this case I think you're right." Zane said with a sigh, watching as the giant cat batted over a (fortunately empty) building.

Lloyd had battled armies of snakes and ghosts, beaten the embodiment of darkness in a one-on-one fight, and engineered the downfall of one city-destroying fiend already, but he simply had no idea what to do with this… thing. He knew how cats worked, for the most part, and they had tried to lure her away, but she was apparently very stubborn about where she hung out. She'd batted at them lazily, but hadn't chased them.

Some citizens had told them about some kind of weapon that could control the cat, but no one even knew what it looked like, much less where to find it. It could have been destroyed, for all he knew.

Sighing, Lloyd turned back to face the jungle. Morro had better get back here soon.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"Hey, a lightswitch!" There was a click, and the inside of the temple lit up.

"Nice." Lydia commented as the ninja began to mill around the large entry room, exploring.

"Soo, what are we doing here?" Morro asked, following Lloyd over to a wall covered in pictures.

"Looking for the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. I'm trying my best to keep the plot vaguely intact, so try not to… influence things too much, okay? Like, totally hypothetically, if the temple were to start crumbling, don't save them. Let them save themselves."

"That's cold, Lydia." Lloyd's voice made her jump.

"Sorrrryyyyyy! But whatever happens, you'll all be fine, I promise."

Morro dropped her.

"Ow!" She yelped, a good second after hitting the floor. "What the he-" She sat up, rubbing her head, and turned to glare at him- only to freeze in shock.

Morro was a ghost again.

"Whaaaaaaaaat the heeeccckkkkkk?" She drew out, staring at him as he glanced down at himself, with… seemingly only mild surprise?

"Mega." He said with a sigh. "Has to be."

"I'm gonna stab that b- that brat. Do you have any idea how much it took for me to turn you human? Oh my gosh." Something occurred to her, and she swiveled to look at Karen, letting out a breath of relief when she registered that she was still human. "Karen didn't change back. Thank goodness."

"Sorry I dropped you." Moro sat down beside her, moving cautiously. "I went incorporeal."

"Yeah, it's fine." She waved him off. "How do you feel? Can you walk?"

"Probably. I just need to get adjusted to this form again." He laid a hand over hers, then grimaced. "If she can't change me back…"

"Maybe you can wish Kahnjikahn turn you back. You still have your wishes. And he likes me and Karen, he probably likes you too." Lydia rambled, squeezing his hand. He didn't react. "It'll be fine. We'll figure it out, I know we will." She told him, as much for her benefit as his.

"Yeah." He sighed. "I guess I can't carry you anymore, since I can't guarantee my solidity."

"Oh yeah. Shoot." She started to look around for Cole, then stopped. "I mean… I should be good to just stay down here. Y'all go upstairs and do your thing, there's not a lot of plot stuff going on righ'now."

"Um… okay." Lloyd, who had been looking on and looking bewildered, started towards the stairs, the others gathering behind him and following him up. As soon as they were out of earshot, Lydia admitted,

"I lied. I'm def missing plot stuff. Are you feeling okay?"

"I don't feel much of anything." Morro said with a huff, lying back on the ground. "Last time I was a ghost, my senses eventually overcompensated for my body's lack. After a couple years." Oof. "So I feel… more numb than I did last time."

"Mmm." Lydia made an effort to turn off the 'cool ghost facts' part of her brain. She reached out and poked his foot, and he looked up. "But you can feel a little bit?"

"Just a little bit." He nodded. "Where'd Karen go?" He asked, glancing around the room.

"I guess she followed the others upstairs. I think she'll be fine."

"Should I be worried?"

"Nah. If I remember correctly the drama doesn't start until they get back down here." She leaned back on her hands. "So… overcompensating senses. Did that turn off when you turned back human?"

"It lasted a couple weeks before fading."

"Hm. So even though you're 'dead', your body still responds accordingly, implying you're not dead, just in another form."

"I see you're still as much of a ghost nerd as ever."

"Of course." A beat of silence.

"So what's going to happen?" Morro rolled onto his side, leaning his chin in his hand.

"The ninja and Garmadon find the Ultimate Ultimate weapon, Garmadon invites Lloyd to join his evil army, Lloyd refuses, Garmadon runs off with the Ultimate Ultimate weapon, he flies off in the airship and causes the temple to collapse. The ninja unlock their dormant elemental powers, they escape the temple, Wu shows up in the Bounty, escape. Shouldn't be any danger to me or Karen, you're kinda invincible."

"I am, aren't I?" Morro tilted his head up at the ceiling. "Nice job, Mega!"

"Pfft. I've been doing that for the past month." Morro's head snapped towards her.

"Month?" Lydia blinked.

"Yeah. How long has it been for you?"

"Like, three days?!"

"...oh my." Stunned silence. "So time passes… like 10 times faster here."

"Or 20 times. A day and a half of that was spent here."

"Oh my." Lydia slowly slid back onto the ground. "Well uh, I guess at home I'll only be missing for about two days. Also, I gained a month of age."

"You lost four months before." Morro pointed out. "You're just catching up." Lydia blinked.

"That never occured to me." A loud thump sounded from upstairs, and Lydia glanced up to see a portion of the ceiling freeze over. "They found it."

"So what is the 'Ultimate Ultimate weapon'?" Morro sat up.

"Uh, it's just some artifacts-things that give the person holding them control over one element. The Ultimate Weapon was a laser pointer that summoned Meowthra." Morro stared at her.

"This is just weird."

"Everything's weird. I'm weird. You're weird. Mega's a pain in the a- neck." Morro snorted.

"She's almost got you swearing now."

"Shhhhh. Shush."

* * *

 **:)**

 **~FFF**


	31. hey mega what the heck pt 3

**hi its me**

* * *

"I can't believe you!"

"Lloyd, just calm down and let me-"

"No! I can't believe I trusted you, even for a minute!" Morro and Lydia looked up at the sound of loud bickering to see Garmadon and Lloyd stomping down the stairs, the rest of the group trailing behind them uncertainly. Jay was holding a chest- the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. At the back of the group was Karen, who immediately broke away up reaching the stairs' end and hurrying over to rejoin them. She signed something at Lydia, who just nodded.

"This is all according to canon." She assured them.

"You think- you think it's okay for you to torment me and attack my city my entire life, and somehow think I'll want to join you?!" Lloyd snapped. "Are you out of your mind, or just without a heart?!"

"Look, I'm offering you this because I care about you." Garmadon protested. "The people of Ninjago City have mistreated you for years! Why should you be loyal to them?"

"Because you're a villain." Lloyd snarled. "I'm not going with you." Garmadon's face darkened.

"Fine. Then I'll take the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon and take Ninjago City myself." He lunged for the chest, but Jay hurled it to Kai, who caught it and ran. The ninja started playing keep-away with the chest, Lloyd and garmadon still arguing loudly. The warlord was much faster than any of the ninja on their own, and was far better coordinated, but through teamwork the ninja managed to keep ahead of him. It was kind of pathetic, actually. How could they even call themselves ninja?

As the game went on, it became clear that Garmadon was getting the upper hand. The ninja were tiring far quicker than he was, and though they outnumbered him 6 to 1 his skill was simply far greater than theirs. ****, in his current state, Morro himself might not be able to beat him.

Finally, Lloyd stumbled and skidded to the floor. Lydia raised an eyebrow as he scrambled to his feet again and yelled,

"Guys, we're not gonna beat him. He's too fast." He straightened up. "Use the Ultimate Ultimate Weapons!"

"Uh." Lydia spoke as Kai popped the chest open and pulled out a glowing, red, glass orb. "This aint canon." Extending the orb towards Garmadon, Kai released a burst of flame, forcing the warlord to scramble back as the rest of the ninja each collected an orb from the chest. Except Lloyd. Apparently he didn't get one.

"Give it up, Garmadon!" Cole snarled. "We have the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon. You can't win."

"You think a few gimmicks are gonna save you?" Garmadon scoffed. "You can have as much power as you want, but I'm not going to lose to children."

"We'll see about that." Lloyd seethed. "Cole?" The black ninja lifted a foot and stomped down on the ground, a crack forming in the ground beneath him and shooting towards Garmadon. The warlord sidestepped it, and the crack continued along the floor until it hit the wall.

The moment Garmadon looked back at them, the ninja pounced. Jay zapped him with a lightning bolt, it simply moved too fast for him to dodge it, then Nya doused him with water.

Would've made more sense to do it the other way around, Morro thought idly as Garmadon narrowly escaped being frozen into an ice cube. Kai missed another spray of fire, then Cole clenched his hands into fists as the room began to rumble, a huge chunk of ceiling coming free directly over Garmadon's head.

The warlord ducked out of the way, but the rumbling didn't stop.

"Lloyd!" Kai yelled in alarm as the huge, jagged cracks began to stretch across the ceiling.

"Get out of the temple!" Lloyd shouted as the ground beneath them began to shake. Morro's eyes snapped to his girlfriend, who he found staring at the scene in front of them in blank-faced shock. Immediately, he reached out to pull her into his arms, tho protect her, but his hands passed through her. He cursed, then tried again, this time pulling her to his chest. She barely reacted, watching the ninja flee.

They had a clear path to the exit, he noted, glancing up at the ceiling above them as Karen pressed herself against his side. It looked stable for the moment, but he had to get them out. How was he going to get them out? He could barely walk, his dragon might be incorporeal, he might just have to find a place to hide and wait for-

A cry caught his attention, and his head whipped around to see a chunk of rock falling right in front of Lloyd. The blond put on a burst of speed to clear it.

He tripped, and the huge chunk landed directly on top of him.

Lydia screamed.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

Mega's pen stilled on the parchment, her face blank as the text on the scroll turned red.

"Heck." She whispered. "Shoot, crap-" She glanced back and forth, then whispered the F word for good measure. This was not supposed to happen. The masters were going to kill her.

"Okay, Mega, calm down." She said aloud, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "You're a smart girl. You should- there must be a way to fix this." Standing from her writing desk, she began to pace back in forth in her room, rolling lessons from years before through her head.

Resurrection was completely against the rules without a clear cause. Doing so might get her in worse trouble than killing him in the first place. Glancing up at the clock hanging on the wall, Mega paced faster. Every moment she spent searching for a fix was another moment Lloyd's body was cold on the floor, she was running out of time before-

Wait.

Mega's eyes flitted to the clock again, then she slid back into her seat, attacking the parchment with renewed fervor.

"Alright, Lydia." She mumbled under her breath as she scrawled a new line across the curling paper. "Now it's up to you."


	32. NOW you're cookin with TIME TRAVEL

**Hey guys what's up**

 **Uhhhhh yeahhhh so i didnt update for more than 2 months out of nowhere. uhhh college. yeah im going with college.**

 **seriously though, finals were mid-april, break was may, for some reason I could NOT force myself to write. I think I was really excited about my ideas for a story that takes place after this? anyway I am now taking 3 summer classes, which started yesterday, and NOW my inspiration comes back.**

 **this chapter is... it feels slightly awkward flow-wise, but I gotta get it over with. not doin review replies because its 11 pm and im tired. just take it**

* * *

Lydia woke up a rattling, bumping surface underneath her.

She jerked her head up with a yelp, images of Lloyd's death still fresh in her mind- only to see the same blond glaring at her from his corner of the cage.

Wait.

Slumping back in the corner, she examined her surroundings with narrowed eyes. Garmadon and Lloyd, sitting in opposite corners. Generals clustered around the cage, pushing it down a path towards a volcano.

"No way." She managed, tipping her head back and staring up at the cage's roof. What in the heck just happened?! She already did this, already lived this! It couldn't have been a dream, could it?

No, her life had a history of not being a dream. Must've been Mega again.

But why, she mused, studying the stars peeking between the bamboo slats. 'Cause Lloyd died? Did she actually give a frick if she killed people? Regardless, he was alive now and she had to keep him that way. Problem being, she didn't have a solid plan as to how.

Probably just… let Garmadon escape with the weapons.

Step one, get out of this cage. She glanced around again. She didn't think she would be able to entirely recreate her speech to Garmadon, and she didn't really want to. Too emotional, and she didn't really have those emotions now.

Plan B time.

"Hey!" She yelled, grabbing the bars of the cage and shaking them. "Why am I in here? It's Garmadon you hate!"

"You work with him." A general hissed back. "You gave him the Ultimate Weapon."

"He forced me to!" Oh boy, more lying. "I could never work with a despicable man like this!" She made a face as she gestured to him. "And why is Lloyd here? These two hate each other!"

"Hey!" Garmadon exclaimed. "L-Loyd might hate me, but I don't hate him!"

"Really?" Lydia turned to look him in the eye. "You don't hate him? Then what about those 16 years of no calls, no visits, no contact, nothing to give him even the slightest idea that you might remember he exists?" Lloyd looked up from his hateful ball in the corner. "What about attacking his city every week, if not every day, with no thought whatsoever to whether or not he was safe? What about forgetting his birthdays? What about leaving Koko to raise him alone? What about-"

"Alright, shut up!" Garmadon snapped - just as she was running out of accusations - and she felt the cage roll to a stop. "You think I wanted to leave him there all alone? You think I forgot about him? You have no idea what the last 16 years were like for me!"

"Then explain." She levelled her gaze at him. "Now." He looked uncomfortable.

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Yeah? Well you do have to explain yourself to Lloyd." She gestured to the blond in the corner. "Explain it to him, now, or I'll have your former generals kill you right now." Garmadon sputtered.

"And why not? How do you know I haven't been working with them all along? Why else would I be in this cage with you?" She was not only lying, but lying without any plan whatsoever. They would probably murder her now just for claiming to be their superior. This wasn't going to go well. "Well, go on. Explain to your son why you abandoned him."

"I refuse to explain myself in front of you and all of them." Garmadon snapped, looking flustered.

"Well, I guess you'll die." Lydia shrugged.

The ninja made their appearance.

"Guys! Perfect timing." Lydia cheered as they beat their way through the crowd of baddies. "Wait. Do you still hate me? I forget." She snapped her fingers. "Kinda. Anyway, let's skedaddle."

"Whoa, slow down." Cole cautioned as she tried to yeet out through the now-open cage door. "You're concussed, remember?"

"I am? I don't feel too concussed." She tapped her head. "Hmm. Time travel."

"What?" About 3 ninja said.

"No time. We gotta leave. Move it or lose it!" And she took off towards the airship.

The next 20-ish minutes progressed about the same as before. Jay hotwired the airship, Lloyd dislocated his arm, Garmadon helped him. Their interaction seemed slightly more awkward this time around, which… was either good or bad. Who knows. They hopped into the airship and took off, and Lloyd quietly thanked her for standing up to his dad. She didn't cry this time, just kinda nodded and told him- quietly - that she had been lying about working with the generals. Probably better not to let that lie live too long. He understood and they kinda awkwardly ended the conversation.

Now she had to decide whether or not to throw herself off the airship so Morro could find her.

On one hand, she mused, he might remember the time travel too, and be searching for her, and therefore not be in a position to catch her. On the other hand, he might remember but not know if she remembered, and be on his way to catch her.. Or he might just not remember. Either way, it was probably safest to fall.

So, after waiting several excruciating hours for the turbulence that sent her falling in the first place, all the while wondering if she had somehow missed it, it finally hit and she jumped off the airship into midair.

Approximately 7 seconds later, Morro caught her.

"Hello again, dork." He greeted her.

"Hello again, nerd." She poked him in the nose. "Hey, you remember!"

"So do you. And Karen. Mega?"

"Mega."

"Alright." He started to descend, presumably to go pick up Karen. "How are we going to keep Lloyd alive this time?"

"I think you can probably give the chest a little nudge while they're playing catch with it to allow Garmadon to get it and escape. That's how it went in the movie. Before they get their hands on the… element orbs or whatever."

"Got it."

The reunion with the others + them meeting Morro and Karen played out about the same. Morro turned into a ghost again. Apparently Mega didn't feel like he was necessary to save Lloyd.

The ninja and Karen eventually disappeared upstairs, and Morro and Lydia discussed their plan of attack. As soon as possible, get the chest into Garmadon's hands and get him to flee. Lloyd should follow the movie plot and they should be able to get out.

"The one thing that's beyond me is my miraculous healing." Lydia remarked as she heard angry footsteps from the upper level. "Every time Mega yeets me through time and space, I heal up. Broken leg? Nah. Concussion? Lmao what?" Morro just shook his head.

"The one thing that's beyond me is the fact that I can never keep up with your slang. I saw you 5 hours ago, and you're already talking differently." Lydia pressed a hand to her chin.

"I'm gonna blame Mega for that."

"Whatever."

The ninja's party argued their way down the stairs, Garmadon made his declaration, playing catch-ing ensued. As soon as Morro had a good opportunity, he nudged the chest into Garmadon's hands.

The warlord gave the ninja a toothy grin, bolted from the temple, and took off - and, once more, the temple began to collapse.

* * *

 **so yeah, round 2, time travel, woo. i am gonna update again soon i promise**

 **~FFF**


	33. Oh man its comin

**ngl guys, im really happy that so many people still enjoy this fic**

 **uhhh no review replies again, sorry. doin this from mobile and my tablet's boutta die. but i love all of you guys**

* * *

Morro leaned back against the piece of stone he and the girls hid behind, watching as a bolt of lightning sprung from Jay's body and shattered a chunk of rock into a million fragments.

"I'm so proud." Lydia clapped her hands once as Cole followed it up by throwing a larger boulder off the side of the mountain. "Let's skedaddle." She hopped to her feet, grabbed his hand and Karen's, and bolted for the exit. "Let's go guys, don't get squished!" The ninja followed her lead, Cole taking up the rear to watch for threats from above. For only having just gotten their powers, they worked together remarkably well, Morro noted as Zane and Nya worked together to bridge a gap in the path down the mountain. Probably due to their bond or something dumb like that.

Lydia slipped on the ice bridge, and Morro caught her, silently scolding himself for not paying attention. Certain doom now, ninja analysis later.

They were coming up on the cliff's edge, and the path was collapsing behind them. Where were they supposed to go? Apparently coming to the same conclusion, Lloyd skidded to a stop at the edge.

"Lydia, what-" He started, but Lydia just ran right past him and jumped off the cliff.

Instinctively, Morro caught her, just as the Destiny's Bounty rose out of the clouds.

After a split second of hesitation, the ninja jumped off after her, and Morro took Karen's hand and carried her down.

"Since when can you fly?" Kai yelled at Lydia, who still floated above the deck.

"Eh? What? Oh, no, that's Morro." She leaned over in his direction. "Thanks for catching me, by the way. I didn't know if that would work." Morro set her down, landed next to her, and gave her ear a tug.

"Don't jump off cliffs." He ordered sternly as she swatted at him.

"Ow, jeez, fine. Wu! Good to see you." She was already distracted by this world's Sensei, who was standing serenely by the cabin door. "See guys, I told you he can't die. C'mon, time's a wastin', let's go stop Garmadon." Sensei nodded, made eye contact with Morro for a moment, then stepped inside the cabin. A second later, the ship shot off in the direction of Ninjago City.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

Could Garmadon really get eaten by Meowthra?

Lydia mused, hands folded as she leaned on the Bounty's railing. Although she had managed to get the plot to follow canon relatively well, she still really had no clue how this was gonna play out. They were, after all, not lego people.

Ninjago City was coming into view, the light from the rising sun illuminating smoke rising from areas all over the city. Caused by Garmadon's army, or by Meowthra, she wasn't sure. She was pretty sure Garmadon couldn't use the weapons.

Morro leaned on the railing next to her.

"The ninja are there."

"The normal ninja?" She glanced up to see him nod. "Awesome. If they find Garmadon before we do, do you think they'll do something about him?"

"I should think so. They know that he caused all this." He gestured to the city.

"I mean… technically I did."

"To keep the story going the right direction."

"That was the idea, anyway." A beat of silence. "Speaking of which, the story's almost over."

"How does it end?"

"With any luck, Garmadon and Lloyd make up, Meowthra is tamed-? or something, Garmadon stops being evil, all good things. And I've tried to keep stuff close to canon so the ending is right, but… I really don't know if it's gonna work out." Morro slung an arm over her shoulders.

"You're smart. You'll figure it out." She reached up and patted his hand on her shoulder.

"Thanks."

A dragon rose up in front of her.

"Lydia!" Her Lloyd yelled from its' back. Lydia's head jerked up, her face breaking into a grin as she ducked out from under Morro' arm.

"Lloyd!" The blond sailed over the deck and desummoned his dragon, landing in a crouch next to her. The moment he straightened up, Lydia grabbed him in a hug. "I MISSED you! It's been MONTHS!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He squeezed her back, then let go - probably cause of the death glare Morro was sending him.

"Uh, time things. What's the news? What's going on?"

"This world's Garmadon just arrived. He's rallying his army. I have the others moving the crowds to safety."

"Good. Awesome. Good job." She clapped him on the shoulder. "Lemme introduce you to your other you. You two need to go stop Garmadon. LLOYD!" A blond head poked out of the cabin. "C'mere!" Movie Lloyd slowly made his way down to them, hesitantly making eye contact with his double.

"...hi. I've heard a lot about you." TV Lloyd blinked.

"You have?"

"I may or may not have told these ninja the whole story about me and you guys." Lydia mentioned. "Anyway. Lloyd, this is Lloyd, Lloyd, this is Lloyd. Go stop your dad." She waved them towards the city.

"My-?" Movie Lloyd glanced at his double, who explained,

"We just saw Garmadon enter the city. Me and a few of the other ninja. Lydia says the two of us-"

"-primarily the one from this dimension-" Lydia interrupted.

"-have to go confront him." Lloyd finished. "Come on, I'll give you a ride." Before his counterpart could ask, he vaulted over the railing, letting himself fall a few feet before summoning his dragon and flying back up. Movie Lloyd's mouth dropped open.

"Why can't I do that?"

"I dunno. Sorry." Lydia shrugged. TV Lloyd landed his dragon on the deck, helped his counterpart climb up behind him, and the two of them took off towards the city

* * *

 **I, for one, am very excited that this story is almost over. i have some GREAT ideas for the sequel(s).**

 **~FFF**


	34. Death and Life

**hahhh im emotional today**

 **id do review replies but no one really posted anything that needed replied to. so. here you are**

* * *

It was only now, sailing over Ninjago city on the back of Morro's dragon, that Lydia realized the full extent of the damage her actions had brought about.

Entire provinces lay in ruin, fires of various sizes were scattered across the city. The skyscraper that had fallen on her wasn't the only one that had toppled, rows of the buildings had collapsed across one another like fallen trees after a storm. The downtown area she'd driven through every day on the bus was nearly unrecognizable from the damage it had sustained, and the high school was… gone. Even though she'd hated the place and everything it stood for, the lack of it made her… sad, for some reason.

"You okay back there?" Morro asked, and she sighed, resting her cheek on his shoulder.

"I called this place home for a little while. That's all." She straightened up again. "Enough of that. Have you spotted Garmadon?"

"Not yet." Morro shook his head. "I've been around the ca- Meowthra twice. No sign of him."

"Why's she still in the city?" Lydia mused, glancing at a pair of fuzzy ears sticking up from behind a building. "What is there left for her here?"

"She's probably not eating the people." Morro muttered. "Maybe once she's summoned, she's not allowed to leave unless bid to?"

"Possible." Lydia glanced the other way. "Come out, come out, wherever you are…"

"Duck!" Morro yelled, and she jerked her head down as she felt something whiz past. Morro's dragon banked hard to the right, and she looked up just in time to see him send a pod of whale-themed robots flying to crash into a building.

"Is that a bad sign?" Lydia asked, and another spray of bullets flew past her head. Morro did a barrel roll, forcing her to clutch his cold body for dear life until he swept into the ruins of a building and touched down.

"Stay here." He ordered. "I'm not letting you get shot." She climbed down without answering, and he took off again.

Of course, the moment he was gone she headed out the other direction.

"Garmadon, Garmadon…" She murmured, picking her way through the rubble. "If I was a Garmadon, where would I be?"

"Right here." She tripped over a brick and whirled around to see, sure enough, Lord Garmadon standing over here with the Ultimate Ultimate Weapon.

"Oh."

"Last warning, kid." He jabbed a finger at her. "Stay out of my way and you won't get hurt." She nodded mutely and stepped aside. No way was she picking a fight with Garmadon with no backup.

He stepped past her, and she scurried off to find cover. Hopefully she could keep tabs on him, just… in case. With this goal in mind, she followed him from a distance, through the rubble, across a few fractured roads, and up the stairs of a small, somehow still standing skyscraper - one that stood right next to where Meowthra was sleeping.

When Lydia realized he was planning to fight her, she hightailed it out of there (she was NOT having a repeat of the first collapsing-skyscraper incident) and went in search of one of the ninja. She ran right into a crowd at the bottom, who seemed to be watching Garmadon. Weren't they supposed to be hiding somewhere? Whatever the case, she couldn't get through, and was instead forced to watch as, nearly 10 stories above her, Garmadon hefted a chunk of rubble and hurled it at Meowthra's sleeping form.

The cat woke up with an annoyed yowl as the chunk hit her nose, rising to her feet as Garmadon roared a battle cry. The huge creature cocked her head at him as the warlord threw open the chest, pulled out a sparking, blue orb, held it in the air, and…

...predictably, nothing happened.

Looking confused, Garmadon thrust the orb in Meowthra's direction, and again nothing happened. He tried another one. Nothing. The weapons just didn't work for him. Frustrated, he hurled the orb in his hand at Meowthra, who sniffed as it bounced off her nose.

She reached up with one paw, batted him off the roof, and watched as he plummeted ten stories before slamming into the concrete.

"NO!" A scream pierced the air not moments after Garmadon hit, and a green shape swept through Lydia's field of vision. Tearing her gaze away from Garmadon's unmoving form, Lydia looked up to see one of the Lloyds - almost definitely movie - jumping from the green dragon and running to his father's body as his counterpart flew into Meowthra's face, luring her away. The remaining Lloyd tore off his hood - triggering gasps from the crowd - and collapsed over Garmadon's body, his sobs echoing off the rubble in the sudden silence around them.

Feeling numb, Lydia pushed her way through the silent crowd. This couldn't be what was supposed to happen? This couldn't be the good ending. But Mega hadn't rewound time like she had with Lloyd - did that mean it was meant to be?

Lloyd didn't notice her as she approached, sitting down next to him. He didn't notice the crowd, still gawking. He didn't notice the other ninja as they arrived, stopping about 10 feet away at the sight of him clutching his father's corpse.

And he didn't notice when his body began to glow, emerald rays of light shooting out from him and reflecting off the wreckage piled around them.

 _Green is… the color of life._

* * *

 **~FFF**


	35. The end?

**Well.**

* * *

The city had gone quiet.

Morro flew over the smoldering city, scanning the wreckage for a reason for the stillness. The battalion of mechs he had been fighting had suddenly scattered, disappearing into the city. When he went to collect Lydia, she was gone - but so, he had noticed, was the rest of the fighting. The city was silent.

A burst of green light appeared, filtering through the buildings and lighting up the clouds about a half-mile above him.

Immediately, Morro shot towards it. Green light meant Lloyd, and Lloyd using his powers most likely meant Lydia. That was the only reason he would willingly go to Lloyd.

When the source came into view, however, the ghost had to shield his eyes. The source, whatever it was, was blinding, he couldn't see it or anything close to it. The only things he could make out were some buildings, and about half of a crowd of people who seemed similarly blinded.

As he circled overhead, the light began to fade, and he swooped down to take a closer look. He spotted Lydia as he got close, a few feet away from the source with her arm over her eyes. Almost silently, he dropped next to her, stepping up behind her and putting a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, but didn't react further when he murmured, "It's me."

The light continued to fade, and Lydia lowered her arm, blinking in the sunlight peeking through the clouds. Morro put his arm around her shoulders as a silhouette came into view, and she leaned her head on his arm.

The light blinked out, revealing a green-clad figure kneeling over a pale body.

Lydia clapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my."

"What?"

"That's Garmadon." The body moved, and sat up, revealing a confused-looking man with a head of curly, grey hair. Lydia clapped her other hand over her mouth.

"Lloyd?" The man asked. Garmadon… was cured?

"Dad." Lloyd threw his arms around his father, and Morro looked away, glancing down at Lydia instead. She was still staring, tears shining in her eyes.

"I didn't see this coming. Th-this isn't canon." She whispered, words tripping over one another. "I'm not mad, this is really really good, but what. What is happening."

"I think something good." Morro patted her shoulder. She let out a watery laugh.

"Still. What."

The other Lloyd, the one he knew, landed on Lydia's other side.

"What's happening?" He asked, looking down at Lydia as she covered her face with her hands.

"I think his Garmadon is cured." Morro responded without looking at him.

"Is this what you were trying to achieve?" A voice behind them made him jump, and the trio whirled around to see Sensei Wu standing behind them.

"Wh-what?" Lydia peeked out at him through her hands.

"When you were trying to bring this timeline back to the way it had been. Did you succeed?" She blinked, then laughed.

"Nah." She shook her head. "This is better."

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

With the story over, they could go home.

Of course, there were still a few loose ends to tie up. Meowthra, for one. Without much difficulty, though, the newly not-evil Garmadon managed to send her away. He then moved in with his family, as technically his marriage to Koko was still valid. They definitely had some things to work through, but Garmadon was a lot nicer now, and Lydia was sure they'd work everything out.

She got the ninja together and explained to them everything she'd done, and why. They deserved that much. Some of them were rightfully still at least a bit upset with her, but they understood, as everything turned out for the best. Except for the city being mostly destroyed.

Speaking of which, due to the time passing differences between this world and Earth, the ninja and Morro had plenty of time to help clean up and rebuild. Over the course of a couple weeks, the ninja used their powers and abilities to provide food, water, and shelter for those who had lost their homes and businesses, then moved on to rebuilding the less-essential parts of the city.

One of the first that went up was the media station. The official reason for such was so they could spread information on supplies and housing more easily. The unofficial reason was so that the (mildly coerced) TV hosts could start publicly praising Lloyd and Garmadon as soon as possible. They did guide the opinions of most of the city, after all.

Once a fair amount of the rebuilding was complete, Lydia said her goodbyes to the movie ninja. It was a bittersweet moment - technically, she could go back and visit whenever she wanted, but due to how much faster time passed there, it would often be weeks and months between her visits. She'd miss years of their lives. Regardless, they were good friends, time couldn't keep their relationships from staying strong.

When they finally left (they had to have ONE more sleepover for old time's sake), they stopped by Cloud Kingdom and tattled on Mega. She got in a lot of trouble, and, as well as turning Morro back human, she was forced to repeat the entire previous year's grade - under close supervision. She was shockingly apologetic. Probably lying through her teeth. Little stinker.

One last stop in TV Ninjago to drop off Lloyd and the ninja, and Lydia and her group went home. Just over a week had passed during her time in Movie Ninjago there, and after a long explanation of what had happened to Mom and Dad (and quite a few assurances that Mega could no longer screw up her life), she filled in the others in her life on the reason for her absence. Time passed, and life settled back into a comfortable routine.

OhThePlacesWe'llGo

"So," Lydia turned the Realm Crystal over in her hands. "TV Ninjago is real, and Movie Ninjago is real, and they are totally different."

"That's true." Karen signed. "What are you getting at?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just saying, if they're real…" Lydia looked up at her walls, covered in drawings and posters she had collected over the years.

"I wonder what other places we could go?"

* * *

 **Well... it's over.**

 **but I'm guessing yall might have some idea as to what I'm planning ;)**

 **thanks for sticking around till the end, folks. I hope you enjoyed this!**

 **~FFF**


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